



Book Vg H r„. 






PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



EARLY BAPTISTS OF VIRGINIA. 

Third annual meeting of the Society at New York, May 10, 1856. 

On the motion of the Rev. A. D. Gillette, M. A., Pastor of the Calvary 
Baptist Church, New York, seconded by the Rev. Geokge W. Eaton, D.D. 
Professor in Madison University, it was unanimously 

'ved, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the Rev. Dr. 
L ll, for his Address of this evening, and that he be requested to furnish a 
copy for publication. 

W. R. Williams, President, 
J. N. Brown, Corresponding Secretary. 



A standing resolution of the Board of Curators, directs a notice to be pre- 
fixed to all publications issued by them, except strictly official documents, that 
the authors of the respective productions are alone responsible for their state- 
ments and opinions. 



W$ €arlg §a)jto af ftrgrak 



AN ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED IN NEW YORK, 



BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



MAY 10th, 1856. 



ROBT. BOYTE C. HOWELL, D. D. 



PASTOR OF MAIN STREET (SECOND) BAPTIST CHURCH. 

RICHMOND, VA. 



• Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not." — Solomon. 




P HILADELP HIA: 

PRESS OF THE SOCIETY, 

No. 118 ARCH STREET. 
185 7. 



.h 






EARLY BAPTISTS OF VIRGINIA 



Me. Peesident, Cueatoes, and Gentlemen, 

of the Ameeican Baptist Histoeical Society: — 

As a theme befitting your third anniversary, you have 
assigned me " The Early Baptists of Virginia." I accept 
it with pleasure, and have only to regret my inability, and 
want of time, to do ample justice to their name and char- 
acter. In making familiar to the popular mind nearly all 
other subjects connected with the progress of " the Mother 
of States," every form of. intellectual communication, 
" whether history or novel, song or oration," has been 
exhausted. In the department of Baptist History we have 
" a vintage whose fruit remains almost untouched." By 
Asplund and Leland, Burkitt and Read, Backus and Bene- 
dict, Semple and Taylor, and some others, we have faithful, 
but brief, detached, and imperfect chronicles. Writers 
unfriendly to their principles, and disposed to disparage 
both their motives and labors — such as Jarrett and Burke, 
Hawks and White, Alexander and Foote — have referred 
to them somewhat at large ; but their statements evince so 
great a want, both of respect and information, and, withal, 
are so distorted by prejudice and aversion, that, as we shall 
hereafter see more fully, they are rendered wholly unre- 
liable. Their works are, in this respect at least, singularly 
unworthy of their distinguished authors. The richest 
sources, however, of information regarding the early Bap- 
tists of Virginia, remain as yet entirely unexplored. They 



o EARLY BAPTISTS 

may be found in the records of the Courts of the several 
counties, before which they were arraigned in times of per- 
secution, and by whose orders they were fined, and scourged, 
and imprisoned. And subsequently, in their memorials, and 
other addresses to the Convention, and to the General As- 
sembly of the State, which were continued from 1774 until 
1799 ; the several complimentary answers returned to them 
by these bodies ; the journals of the Convention, and of 
the Legislature ; the laws, with their history, of the Colony 
and of the State, as contained in Hening's Statutes at 
Large, the Revised Laws of Virginia, and the Code of 
Virginia ; the works of Thomas Jefferson ; their several 
memorials to Congress; and their correspondence with 
Washington and with Jefferson, during the period that those 
gentlemen occupied the chair of President of the United 
States, and the responses returned by those distinguished 
statesmen. From these all, may be learned important and 
useful lessons. They will aid in furnishing materials for a 
future full and faithful history, with which, I trust, some 
Baptist Bancroft, Irving, or Prescott, will, ere long, favor 
the American people. 

For a century past, Virginia has been a prolific fountain, 
from which has poured forth a perpetual stream of emigra- 
tion into other quarters, and especially into the States of 
the South and West. This drain has been constant and 
excessive. It has carried away multitudes of Baptists. At 
one period, nearly half of all their numbers, ministers and 
people, were poured into Kentucky alone. Still a hundred 
thousand of her citizens are, to-day, communicants in our 
churches ! Nor do they compose the least influential or 
inactive portion of her population. Their ardent Christian 
character, and their enlarged and liberal public spirit, are 
sufficiently attested by the Colleges, male and female, reared 
by their munificence, and under their guidance ; their mis- 
sionary, and other benevolent organizations ; and their 



OF VIRGINIA. 7 

various similar appliances for the elevation of society, for 
the honor and advancement of religion, and for the salvation 
of men. In no sense will they, I flatter myself, suffer by a 
comparison with any other denomination of Christians 
whatever. Who can look upon all this, and much more 
that will appear in the progress of this discourse, and not 
feel an earnest desire to become better acquainted with the 
men whose labors have been crowned with results so glo- 
rious'? "Who can look upon their immense and daily 
thickening hosts, and not wish to trace the beginning and 
early progress, in " the Ancient Dominion," of principles now 
so majestically triumphant I Why have our Virginia fathers 
remained so long; why should they continue; without any 
suitable memorial of their exalted position, their noble sac- 
rifices, their indomitable zeal, their extraordinary and 
successful labors'? I rejoice that they are now at length 
beginning to attract, to a much greater extent than hereto- 
fore, the attention of the Christian world. When faithfully 
recorded, their history will afford another eminent illustra- 
tion of the power of simple gospel truth, over the hearts of 
men ; its sufficiency, when left to its own influence, to 
sweep away venerable errors, however deep-seated and 
inveterate ; and the readiness with which it moulds both 
ecclesiastical, and civil governments, upon the true princi- 
ples of justice and freedom. It is rich in its incidents, and 
thrilling in all the events which mark its progress. Its 
record would fill worthily ample volumes. How, then, can 
I hope to present it, in one brief address, satisfactorily 
before this learned and critical society] The proprieties 
of the occasion admonish me that I must select such alone 
of its bearings — and they must be very few — as are most 
important; and examine them so far only as may be neces- 
sary to bring them forth into the full relief of truth. I 
may, perhaps, properly consider to what extent the Baptist 
element was found existing among the early colonists of 



8 EARLY BAPTISTS 

Virginia ; the time and circumstances under which their 
principles were here embodied in visible churches ; the sub- 
sequent extraordinary progress of these principles among 
the people; the causes of their unprecedented advance- 
ment ; the controversies that prevailed among them, with 
the harmony, doctrinal and practical, at which they at 
length arrived; their influence in the formation of the 
government of the State ; and the position of their minis- 
ters and people in the Commonwealth, intellectual, moral 
and social. The period within which I shall confine myself 
is that which commences with the settlement of James- 
town, in 1607, and closes with the termination of the last 
century. 

I. To what extent did the Baptist element exist among 
the early colonists of Virginia 1 

The impression prevails that it was not at all apparent 
until about the time of the organization of the Church at 
Burleigh, in 1714. That there were no organised Churches 
is certainly true. The laws were of such severity, and the 
malignant vigilance with which every overt departure from 
the established religion was watched, and suppressed, made 
their formation simply impracticable. The government of 
Massachusetts satisfied itself with perpetually harassing, 
punishing, and distressing them. All this Baptists can 
brave, and did brave. Virginia went much further. The 
miseries she inflicted fell little short of the Eoman Inqui- 
sition itself. Still the Baptist element was found largely 
prevailing among the people, and gradually developing 
itself, and increasing, until at last it broke forth in all the 
beauty, and majesty of the morning sun. The proofs of 
these facts are at hand, and although entirely circum- 
stantial, are nevertheless perfectly satisfactory. The testi- 
monies upon which I rely, are drawn, mainly, from the 
religious condition of Europe with reference to our prin- 
ciples, from which the colonists came, and of course brought 



OF VIRGINIA. 9 

with them their peculiar sentiments, for some time pre- 
vious and during this period; and from the history, and 
laws of the commonwealth itself. 

That Baptist principles prevailed to a considerable extent 
in the " Old World" generally, and in England particularly, 
and especially among that class of persons most likely to 
form the masses of immigration, is well known. It is also 
equally well known, that these principles were then de- 
nounced by all denominations, and by every government in 
Europe, as " blasphemy against God," and " treason against 
the state." Those, therefore, of whatever position in 
society, who dared to profess, or to practise them, were 
at once proscribed as infamous, placed without the protec- 
tion of the laws, and with fire, and sword, hunted relent- 
lessly from the world. That these principles may be 
distinctly before our minds, let them here be briefly stated. 
And this is the more necessary since in modern times, and 
especially in this country, where so many of them have 
been embraced by other denominations, they are not so 
readily recognised as peculiarly Baptist. The supposition 
is not uncommon in our day, that Baptists depart, and have 
always heretofore departed, from other evangelical Chris- 
tians, mainly, if not exclusively, in their opinions as to the 
subjects, and mode of baptism. On these topics we do 
indeed, stand alone. They form however, a very small, 
and by no means the most important part of our peculiari- 
ties. Our distinctive doctrines may be set forth synop- 
tically thus: — The Bible, and the Bible alone, is our 
rule of faith, and obedience; regeneration, and sanctifica- 
tion, are the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of 
the believer; justification is exclusively by the grace 
of God, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; holy 
living is the only conclusive proof of true discipleship ; 
membership in the churches, is confined strictly to the 
professedly regenerate ; the government of each church, is 



10 EARLY BAPTISTS 

wholly within the church itself; the sacraments are always 
declaratory of the faith of the recipient ; the Church and 
the State are entirely separate, and neither can legislate 
for the other; perfect freedom of conscience, and of worship, 
is an inalienable right of every man ; and every man is 
entitled to full, and equal protection by the government 
under which he lives, in the exercise of all his privileges, 
social, political and religious. These constitute, as we 
believe, the grand outlines of the Gospel of Christ. For 
them no others can be substituted. Not one of them can 
be removed without irreparable injury. They bear, as a 
whole, the stamp and seal of the Almighty God. He who 
embraces them is necessarily a Baptist. They constitute 
the sum of the primitive faith, and have in every age, and 
country, been maintained with the life blood of many a 
sainted martyr. No church, whatever it may be, that 
departs from any of them, can long remain evangelical. 
No State that is not governed by them, can ever be free. 
And what denomination of Christians, up to the time of 
which I now speak, concurred with us in these doctrines 1 
The Lutheran, the Calvinist, and English Church, and 
some minor sects under their influence embrace them in 
part. They admitted in theory, the sufficiency of the 
Scriptures, as a rule of faith and obedience ; they attributed 
regeneration to the Holy Spirit, but professedly conveyed 
it through the administration of the sacraments ; and they 
taught justification by faith alone. In all other respects 
our doctrines, and those especially which guard the purity 
of membership, and a scriptural polity in the churches, 
their separation from the civil government, freedom of 
conscience and worship, and the right of every citizen, 
whatever may be his religion, to the full and equal protec- 
tion of the State, in all his privileges, political, social and 
religious, were no less offensive to them all, Protestants as 
they were, than to the most decided Papists. Such are 



OF VIRGINIA. 11 

Baptist doctrines as they were then, and are now, under- 
stood in Europe, and as they have been maintained by 
their advocates in all ages. 

The presence of Baptists in England, in no very small 
numbers, and from the earliest times, will, I presume, be 
questioned by no one familiar with the religious history of 
the land of our fathers. Let us consider more fully, the 
feelings exercised towards them by the government, and 
their fellow citizens of other churches. Who does not 
know, that by both, they were hunted, and destroyed with 
the utmost vigilance \ These facts are placed beyond 
dispute, by Fuller, and Milner, Mosheim, and Neander, 
as well as by Ivimey, and Anderson, and Neal, and Under- 
bill. As the period of the settlement of Jamestown 
approached, their numbers multiplied, and churches were 
springing up in the capital, and throughout the country. 
The distinguished President of the Council of Trent, said 
of them, "If you behold their cheerfulness in suffering 
persecution, the Anabaptists run before all other heretics. 
If you will have regard to their number, it is like that in 
multitude they would swarm above all others, if they were 
not grievously plagued, and cut off with the knife of per- 
secution. If you have an eye to the outward appearance 
of Godliness, both the Lutherans, and Zuinglians, must 
needs grant that they far pass them."* The Papists and 
Protestants destroyed each other, in every possible manner. 
Never were enemies more bitter, or uncompromising. In 
but one thing only was it possible for them to agree, and 
that was the persecution of Baptists. Here they harmo- 
nised perfectly, and it is remarkable that in several of their 
treaties, as recorded by Dr. Merle D'Aubigne, special articles 
were inserted, binding both parties to use every possible effort 
to destroy all the Baptists in Europe, " Accordingly," says 
that distinguished annalist, " Luther, on his return from 

* Struggles and Triumphs of Religious Liberty, pp. 88, 89. 



12 * EAELY BAPTISTS 

Wittenburg, extinguished in Germany, the fanaticism of 
the Anabaptists."* How he did this, is for his own fame, 
but too well remembered, by every reader of the history of 
those times. Nor were he, and his friends, content to 
" extinguish" them in their own land, they followed them, 
with cruel hatred, even to other countries. " The princes 
of Germany," says Dr. Cox,f " having discovered by means 
of intercepted letters, a secret correspondence between the 
German and English Anabaptists, wrote an epistle to 
Henry VIII., containing a statement of their pernicious 
doctrines, and warning him of danger likely to result from 
their fanatical proceedings, unless prevented by a bold and 
timely interference." " This epistle," of " the princes of 
Germany," we are especially informed, was advised by 
Luther, and written by Melancthon. It was their work. 
How attentive Henry was to its information, is indicated 
by the convention called according to his command, by 
Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1530, in which 
many of their doctrines were formally condemned, and all 
were pronounced " damnable heresies." Two proclama- 
tions immediately followed for their suppression, and 
prescribing the severest punishments " against the malicious 
sects of heretics, who by perversion of Holy Scripture, do 
induce erroneous opinions, sow dissension among Christian 
people, and finally disturb the peace and tranquillity of 
Christian realms, as lately happened in some parts of 
Germany. "J And that Henry's successors were as vigilant 
as he was, the prisons of the " United Kingdom," and the 
"fires of Smithfleld," bear the amplest testimony. The 
doctrines of Calvin on this subject are well known. He 
expressed himself fully, and evinced his doctrine by the 
apprehension at Geneva, of Servetus, and his martyrdom at 
the stake. Justly has Bayle said, " Not a reformer of any 

* Histy. Ref., Yol. III., p. 305. t Life of Melancthon, p. 218. 

% Struggles and Triumphs, p. 92. 



OF VIRGINIA. 13 

eminence can be named, who did not take part in this 
crusade [against the Baptist,] Luther, Melancthon, Zuingle, 
Bucer, Bullinger, Calvin, and others abroad; at home, 
Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, Barnes, Philpot, Becon, Turner, 
and many more."* Our suffering brethren, under the 
reign of Elizabeth, in an essay to defend themselves against 
their implacable foes, published a treatise, in which they 
ventured to protest against persecution for conscience 
sake. They averred that according to the word of God, 
" Christ is the supreme head of His church ; that the 
Queen had no right to frame ecclesiastical government, 
nor to appoint ministers of religion ; that the church ought 
to be composed of believers only; and that the baptism of 
infants is unlawful." These annunciations containing truths 
so palpable tons, shocked all parties of Pedobaptists, insuffer- 
ably ! John Knox himself, the father of British Presby- 
terians, responded in a work entitled "An answer to a 
great number of cavilations, written by an Anabaptist 
Adversary." This great man closes his book by thus ad- 
dressing his antagonist : " It is my full purpose to lay the 
same to thy charge, if I shall apprehend thee in any com- 
monwealth, where justice against blasphemers may be 
administered according to God's word." 

Nor was the temper of the English Bishops more tole- 
rant towards us, than that of the Scotch Presbyters. Many 
a time have we, in our childhood, been moved to tears by 
a recital of the sufferings of Cranmer, Ridley and Rogers, 
who fell in Mary's reign, martyrs, under the hands of the 
Papists. Had these very men ever dragged Baptists to the 
stake, before they themselves suffered a like punishment 1 
Neal's History of the Puritans details to us many melan- 
choly transactions. f The formidable multiplication of 
Baptists, and the popularity with the masses of their 

* Diet. Art. Anab , Note B. 

t Vide Choules' edition, N. Y., Vol. 2, pp. 353-380. 



14 EARLY BAPTISTS 

peculiar principles, induced the government to enact laws 
commanding a careful search after them, that they might, if 
possible, be exterminated. A "commission" was named 
for this purpose, at the head of whom stood Cranmer and 
Ridley, who executed their bloody office, not only without 
relentings, but with singular ferocity. Take a single 
example. Joan of Kent, a distinguished lady, was the first 
Baptist apprehended. With very little ceremony or delay, 
she was condemned to be burned alive at the stake. The 
deed could not be consummated until the death-warrant had 
received the approval of the king. Young James refused 
to sign it. He knew her to be one of the best and most 
excellent of women. Cranmer was deputed to persuade 
him to consent ; and how earnestly and successfully he ful- 
filled his horrid mission, you, gentlemen, know full well. 
" He argued," says the historian, " from the law of Moses, 
according to which blasphemers were to be stoned." He 
said, " There were impieties against God, which princes, 
being his deputies, ought to punish, just as the king's 
deputies were obliged to punish offences against the king's 
person." " The young king," says Burnett,* " was rather 
silenced than convinced. He set his hand to the warrant 
with tears in his eyes, telling Cranmer, that if he did wrong, 
as it was done in submission to his authority, he [the Arch- 
bishop] should answer for it to God." And most sternly, 
and soon, did God call him to answer. Nor was Rogers 
much less implicated in this very case. A distinguished 
gentleman, shocked by the cruelty about to be inflicted 
upon " an illustrious female," went to Rogers, and besought 
him to exert his influence to save her ; or at least to procure 
for her a less dreadful death. Rogers, we are told, evinced 
much indifference, and coolly said, " She ought to be put to 
death ;" and added, " Burning alive is not a cruel death ; 
but easy enough!" On hearing these words, which 

* Hist. Kef., Vol. 2, p. 110. 



OF VIRGINIA. 15 

expressed so little regard for the sufferings of others, his 
friend replied, with great vehemence, at the same time 
striking Eogers' hand, which he had before grasped firmly, 
" Well; perhaps it may so happen that you yourselves will 
one day have your hands full of this mild burning." And 
so, indeed, in the providence of God, it did happen. These 
men died no more unjustly, nor cruelly, than did the Bap- 
tist victims they had themselves so relentlessly destroyed. 

In the days of which I now speak, to believe that mem- 
bership in the church is confined strictly to the professedly 
regenerate ; that the government of each church is wholly 
within the church itself; that the sacraments are always 
declaratory of the faith of the recipient ; that the church 
and the state are wholly separate organisations, and that 
neither can legislate for the other ; that perfect freedom of 
conscience, and worship, are inalienable rights of all men ; 
and that every citizen is entitled to full and equal protec- 
tion by the government under which he lives, in the exer- 
cise of all his privileges, social, political, and religious ; 
were horrid blasphemy, revolting impiety, rebellion against 
kings, and treason against government, to exterminate 
which with fire and sword, the Presbyterians of Scotland, 
and the Lutherans of Germany, were most anxious to 
co-operate with the Episcopalians of England, and the 
Papists every where. 

Underhill, with equal eloquence and truth, remarks : — 
" The Papists abhorred them ; for if this heresy prevailed, 
a church hoary with age, laden with the spoils of many 
lands, rich in the merchandise of souls, must be broken 
down and destroyed. The Protestants hated them ; for 
their cherished headship, their worldly alliances, the pomps 
and circumstances of state religion, must be debased before 
the kingly crown of Jesus. The Puritans defamed them ; 
for Baptist sentiments were too liberal, and free, for those 
who sought a papal authority over conscience, and desired 



16 EARLY BAPTISTS 

the sword of the higher powers to enforce their ' Holy dis- 
cipline.' " " The Baptists were from the beginning," as 
Locke has truly said, " the friends and advocates of abso- 
lute liberty; just and true liberty; equal and impartial 
liberty."* 

In these facts we have a rapid sketch of the religious 
condition of Europe, with reference to Baptist doctrines, at 
the time, and for some time previous, and afterwards, of the 
planting of the colony at Jamestown. Two hundred and 
fifty years have produced great and favorable changes, 
even in the Old World, with the light of the West, and 
especially of the nineteenth century, pouring upon them. 
Bancroft, who cherishes no sympathy with their religion, 
and who erroneously imagines that they sprang up with 
the great christian leaders of that age, eloquently says of 
the German Baptists, from whom their English brethren 
did not differ, " With greater consistency than Luther, they 
applied the doctrines of the reformation to the social posi- 
tions of life, and threatened an end to priestcraft, and king- 
craft, spiritual domination, tithes and vassalage. The 
party," he adds, "was trodden under foot, with foul 
reproaches ; most arrogant scorn ; and its history is written 
in the blood of myriads of the German peasantry ; but its 
principles secure in their immortality, escaped with Roger 
Williams, to Providence, and his colony, to witness that 
naturally, the paths of the Baptists are paths of freedom, 
of pleasantness, and peace."*f* 

Then, however, no refuge offered itself; no place was 
safe from persecution, and death. The New World was 
opened, and thither fled the pursued and harassed of all 
classes. Baptists flocked, as is well known, in crowds, to 
Massachusetts, to Rhode Island, to Pennsylvania, to the 
Carolinas. Did none of them find their way to the deep 
forests, and secluded valleys, of the oldest of all the colo- 

* Struggles and Triumphs, p. 20 L. f Hist. U. S., Yol. 2, p. 47. 



OF VIRGINIA. 17 

nies, Virginia % If not, how do you account for a fact so 
extraordinary % This would have been strange indeed, 
and especially as Virginia was settled by a London com- 
pany, and there were in 1643, known to be seven churches 
in that one city; and in 1689, we have the records of a 
meeting there, in which the messengers of upwards of a 
hundred churches assembled to consult upon important 
subjects connected with the advancement of the kingdom 
of Christ.* But we are not left wholly to conjecture in 
this matter, Graham in his history of the United States, 
speaks of " Puritans," as residing in Virginia.f Why may 
not Baptists also have been there \ It is well known that 
on the restoration of Charles II., great numbers of the 
veteran soldiers of Cromwell, escaped to Virginia. It is 
equally well known that not a few of these soldiers were 
Baptists. Who were those of whom Dr. Hawks tells us, 
upon his own authority, that " Their assemblages [in 1680] 
there is reason to believe, were perverted from religious to 
treasonable purposes ;" that " they concocted among the 
sectaries of their creed, the subversion of the government ;" 
four of whom, at least, were vilely hung, as a warning to 
the remainder 1 J These charges against them, have a 
most significant resemblance to those so often alleged 
against the Baptists in Europe, who, because they con- 
demned the union of church and state, and contended for 
full religious liberty, were denounced as rebels, condemned 
as felons, and publicly executed as traitors to their country. 
Weigh attentively, all these facts, and you will find in 
them, testimony of no feeble character, that from its very 
beginning, the Baptist element pervaded the colony of 
Virginia. 

We are now prepared to turn to the colony itself, and 
by a careful examination of its proceedings, shall ascertain 

* Tide Phila. Confession of Faith. f Yol. 1, p. 219. 

J History of Episcopacy in Va., pp. 71, 72. 

2 



18 EARLY BAPTISTS 

why Baptists principles remained so long in the Common- 
wealth unembodied in churches. 

The men of Virginia, were of a class altogether different 
from those of Plymouth ; not in intelligence, virtue, and 
enterprise ; but in habits, tastes, and religion. The colony 
of the north, were inveterate Independents, of the Crom- 
wellian school. Some of them before they crossed the 
Atlantic, had fled from England, and, for years, resided in 
Holland. The colony of the south, were Cavaliers, of a 
softer disposition, polished, courtly, proud, and loyal in the 
highest degree ; not less religious, nor intolerant than their 
neighbors ; but less austere in their manners, and general 
deportment. The men of the north, abjured the Church of 
England, and from her tyranny had with difficulty escaped. 
The men of the south, loved that church, brought it with 
them to their western home, and cherished, and guarded it 
with an undying reverence. Their schools only shared with 
their church an equal solicitude, as is evinced by their 
ample provision for the University of Henrico, the Free 
Academy of Charles City, and the College of William and 
Mary. I came here, however, to speak to you of the 
church, not of education ; and I shall, perhaps, best present 
their carefulness of its interests, by referring to some of the 
laws by which they essayed to give it power and support. 

The organic law, on the subject of religion, is contained 
in the charter of the colony, by James I., and dated April 
10th, 1606, as follows: — "We do specially ordain, charge, 
and require, the said Presidents and Councils, and the 
ministers of the said several colonies respectively, [First 
and Second of Virginia] within their several limits and 
precincts, that they, with all diligence, care, and respect, do 
provide that the true word and service of God, and christian 
faith, be preached, planted, and used, not only within every 
of the said several colonies and plantations, but also as 
much as they may, among the savage people which do, or 



IN VIRGINIA. 19 

shall adjoin unto them, or border upon them, according 
to the doctrines, rites, and religion, now professed and 
established, within our realm of England, and that they 
shall not suffer any person, or persons, to withdraw any of 
the subjects, or people, inhabiting, or who shall inhabit, 
within any of the said several colonies, and plantations, 
from the same, or from their due allegiance unto us, our 
heirs, and successors, as their immediate sovereign under 
God ; and if they shall find within any of the said colonies, 
and plantations, any person, or persons, so seeking to with- 
draw any of the subjects of us, our heirs, or successors, or 
any of the people of those lands, or territories, within the 
precincts aforesaid, they shall, with all diligence, him, or 
them so offending, cause to be apprehended, arrested, and 
imprisoned, until he shall fully and thoroughly reform him- 
self, or otherwise when the cause so requireth, that he shall 
with all convenient speed, be sent into our realm of 
England, here to receive condign punishment, for his, or 
their said offence, or offences."* With this platform upon 
which to proceed, the details of Ecclesiastical Law during 
the first fifteen or twenty years of the colony, emanated 
exclusively from its Governors for the time being. Among 
the earliest, we have the Code of Sir Thomas Dale, promul- 
gated in 1611, in which we have the following enact- 
ments :■ — " There is not one man, nor woman in this colony 
now present, nor hereafter to arrive, but shall give up an 
account of his, and their faith, and religion, and repair 
unto the minister, that by his conference with them, he 
may understand and gather whether heretofore, they have 
been sufficiently instructed, and catechised in the principles 
and grounds of religion; whose weakness and ignorance, the 
minister finding, and advising them in love, and charity, to 
repair often unto him, to receive therein a greater measure 
of knowledge ; if they shall refuse to repair unto him, and he, 

* Herring's Statutes at Large, Yol. I., pp. 68, 69. 



20 EARLY BAPTISTS 

the minister, give notice thereof, unto the governor, or the 
chief officer of that town, or fort, wherein he, or she, the 
parties so offending, shall remain, the governor shall cause 
the offender, for the first time of refusal, to be whipped ; 
for the second time, to be whipped twice, and to acknow- 
ledge his fault upon the Sabbath day, in the congregation ; 
and for the third time, to be whipped every day, until he 
hath made the same acknowledgment, and asked forgive- 
ness of the same, and shall repair unto the minister to be 
further instructed as aforesaid ; and upon the Sabbath, 
when the minister shall catechise, and demand any question 
concerning his faith, and knowledge, he shall not refuse to 
make answer, upon the same peril."* Of this, and similar 
laws, which continued to be announced during the admin- 
istration of the London Company, it is proper to say, that 
though formally promulgated, they were almost wholly 
inoperative, since neither the circumstances, nor the temper 
of the people, rendered their execution practicable. 

It was also the practice of each Governor, when he came 
into office, to introduce his own code, and to supersede 
that of his predecessor. And after the organization of 
• ; The Grand iVssembly," it was a mode of legislation pecu- 
liar to those times, to repeal at each session, all former 
laws, and re-enact them in the very words in which they 
were originally passed, t Of this body Hening says, " If 
we may judge by the subject matter embraced by such acts 
as have been preserved, the Legislature was exclusively 
occupied in promoting an uniformity to the doctrines, and 
discipline of the Church of England, and in enforcing 
attendance at Church, and other religious exercises.'* J It 
was provided by the Act of 1623, that in every plantation, 
or settlement, there should be a house or room set apart for 
the worship of God," which worship was commanded, and 

* Laws, &c, Strachey, London, 1612. 

f Hening's Statutes at Large, Yol. I., p. 120. % Ibid. 



IN VIRGINIA. 21 

required to be strictly " in accordance with the Constitution 
and Canons of the Church of England." For these places 
of worship ministers were provided by the state, and their 
salaries paid out of the public treasury, by a tax levied 
upon the people for that purpose."* " To preserve the 
purity of doctrine, and unity of the church," it was enacted 
during the session of 1643, that " All ministers shall be 
conformable to the orders, and constitution of the Church of 
England ; that no others shall be permitted to preach or 
teach, publicly or privately;" and that "the Governor and 
Council shall take care that all nonconformists depart the 
colony, with all conveniency."f The statute of England, of 
3rd James I., was at this session adopted, " Concerning 
Popish recusants," and put into full force in Virginia ; and 
in 1657, the severest laws were adopted for the suppression 
of the sect known as Quakers. In the legislative attention 
of 1661, especially, the church shared very largely. The 
first nine acts had exclusive reference to ecclesiastical 
affairs. They provided that a church should be built, and 
vestries appointed in each parish ; that glebes, with conve- 
nient houses built thereon, should be purchased for the 
minister of each parish, by the state ; that ministers should 
receive for their salaries, each eighty pounds sterling, annu- 
ally, (which was afterwards changed to sixteen thousand 
pounds of tobacco) to be levied by the vestry, upon the 
citizens of each parish respectively ; that no minister 
should preach without ordination from a Bishop in 
England ; that every person not so ordained attempting to 
preach, publicly or privately, should be silenced by the 
Governor and Council, and if he persisted, should be 
banished from the colony ; that no other catechism should 
be taught, but that contained in the Book of Common 
Prayer ; that on every Sunday, each person, not providen- 
tially prevented, should attend the parish church of his 

* Hening's Statute at Large, Yol. I., &c. f Hening et supra. 



22 EARLY BAPTISTS 

own parish, under a penalty for failure, of fifty pounds of 
tobacco ; and that each nonconformist, should pay ticenty 
pounds sterling, for every month's absence from the regular 
established church of the parish in which he resided ; and 
if absent a year, should be apprehended, and required to 
give security for his good behaviour; which, if he failed to 
do, he was to be imprisoned until he either did give secu- 
rity, or conformed to the church.* 

These, and similar laws, governed the people of Virginia, 
except during the brief period of the Protectorate, when 
the affairs of the Church were taken from the Legislature, 
and placed in the hands of the parishes. On the accession 
of Charles II., however, things returned to their former 
condition, and the laws were even more stringent than 
before, and thus continued up to the time of the American 
revolution,f with the melioration, as will be seen hereafter, 
of the Act of Toleration, under William and Mary. If 
Baptists were present in the colony, what could they do % 
They durst not make themselves known. They had no 
alternative but to endeavor in solitude to serve God, until his 
providence should deliver them from the oppressions which 
they then suffered. It is intimated, however, and especially 
by Episcopal writers, who seem desirous to apologise for 
them, that these laws, in their severity, were never enforced. 
They tell us that " The Church was provided for ; but it is 
due, both to the governors and the governed, [to say] that 
on the one hand there was as little disposition to enforce, 
as there was on the other to submit to their penalties." 
Yet they admit elsewhere that Baptists, especially, subse- 
quently suffered from them great injustice and oppression. J 
Gentlemen, I revere the memory of these early colonists. 
My own loved ancestors were among them. But to conceal 

* See Legislative Journals, and Hening's Statutes at Large, Vols. L, II. 
f Hening's Stat., Yol. I., preface, p. xv. 
% Hist. Epis. Ch. in Ya., p. 24, et seq. 



IN" VIRGINIA. 23 

the truth, even were it lawful, is both useless and impossi- 
ble. History speaks in a voice not to be suppressed, and 
she tells us that " persecutions for conscience' sake " were 
rife during Virginia's whole colonial period. Who were 
those inhabitants of Montserrat, in the West Indies, of 
whom the Jesuit, White, speaks, in his " Pilgrims of Mary- 
land," and of whom, under date of 1634, he tells us inci- 
dentally, that they were driven from Yirginia " for their 
religious opinions'?"* Have we not already seen that four 
men, soldiers of Cromwell, were hung, evidently for their 
religious opinions] The penalties prescribed by these laws 
were, as Hening declares, in 1640, inflicted to the letter 
upon a citizen, whose name he does not record. Did not 
Stevenson Reek suffer, in 1643, for religious offences, the 
most revolting severities % He " stood in the pillory two 
hours, with a label on his back, paid a fine of fifty pounds 
and was imprisoned at the pleasure of the Governor." f 
Were not the missionaries, Thompson, Knolles, James and 
Harrison, sent to Virginia by the General Court of Boston, 
banished, in 1648, from the colony'? And were not their 
congregations, though meeting only in private, violently 
dispersed, and many of them imprisoned during indefinite 
periods ?]f And James Pyland, the member from Isle of 
Wight, that Baptist county ; what was " his, the said Py- 
land's blasphemous catechism," for the issuing of which he 
was, in 1652, expelled from the House of Burgesses ]§ 
Was not the member from Norfolk also expelled from the 
House, in 1663, on a religious account] || And upon what 
authority were Baptists, in later years, apprehended, 
imprisoned, fined, and tortured] Would to God, gentle- 
men, these laws, in themselves so loathsome, had always 
remained " a dead letter." But, alas ! the sufferings, and 

* Annals of Annapolis, p. 23. f 2 Bark, 67 ; Eccl. Va., p. 51. 

% Holmes' Annals, 289 ; Savage's Winthrop, 334. 

I Hening's Stat., Vol. I., pp. 374-5. || Ut. Sup. Vol. 2, p. 198. 



24 EARLY BAPTISTS 

groans, and blood, of many a victim, clamoring in our ears, 
reveal, on the part of Virginia's rulers, not a soft forbear- 
ance, but deeds of cruelty and death ! Under the operation 
of laws so stringent ; watched by vigilant enemies on every 
side ; no minister, known to be such, permitted to reside in 
the colony ; is it surprising that no churches existed, and 
no ordinances were publicly administered ? 

The Baptist element in the Virginia colony is still more 
apparent by yet another form of testimony, which I am 
now prepared to lay before you. We trace it here, as we 
do through the dark ages in Europe, by the laws enacted 
for its suppression, and the official records of persecutions. 
Solicitous as they may be to remain concealed, one clue 
leads invariably to the detection of Baptists. Their con- 
sciences compel them, and, at whatever hazard, they will 
withhold their children from baptism. Attempt to compel 
them ; you will find them immovable by any power of 
earth. With these well known facts before us, we turn to 
" the Grand Assembly," and offer you a specimen of its 
legislation. It is published as the 111 Act of the session 
of 1661-2, as follows: "Whereas, many schismatical per- 
sons, out of their averseness to the orthodox established 
religion, or out of the new-fangled conceits of their own 
heretical inventions, refuse to have their children baptised : 
Be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all 
persons that, in contempt of the divine sacrament of bap- 
tism, shall refuse, when they may carry their child [chil- 
dren] to a lawful minister in that county, to have them 
baptized, shall be amerced two thousand pounds of tobacco ; 
half to the informer, half to the public/'* Against whom, 
I may now inquire, was this law, and were others like it, 
directed'? Modern writers have alleged, I know, that it 
must have been directed against the Quakers. It was cer- 
tainly applicable to them ; but their numbers and influence 

* Hening's Statutes at Large, Yol. % pp. 165. 166. 



IN VIRGINIA. 25 

then, were very inconsiderable. Look carefully into all its 
parts, and you must see that it contemplated others also. 
And who could they have been but Baptists \ The evil it 
was designed to correct seems, in the opinion of our legis- 
lators, to have been wide-spread and most alarming. Study, 
if you please, its language. It is instructive. The pre- 
amble declares that there were " many" of those persons in 
the colony, who refused to have their children baptized ; 
that they did not neglect merely, but " refused" to have this 
rite administered to their little ones ; that this refusal was 
based upon principle, which the act pronounced to have 
been " averseness to the established religion," or " the new- 
fangled conceits of their own heretical inventions." They 
were not, therefore, infidels, wicked men, people careless of 
their obligations ; but intelligent, thinking, conscientious 
christians. The law pronounces them stubborn heretics 
and schismatics. They were also of such numbers, charac- 
ter, and influence in society, that, as was believed, the safety 
of " the orthodox established religion" demanded that they 
should be put down by the strong arm of the General 
Assembly. A majority of them were undoubtedly Baptists. 
If they were not members actually of Baptist churches, it 
was because, in the providence of God, the existence of 
such churches, and the administration of the ordinances of 
the gospel, were as yet, in the colony, wholly impracticable. 
Another fact, bearing directly on the point before us, is 
recorded by Morgan Edwards, and others. They assure us 
that although no churches were as yet organized there, 
Baptists were found in considerable numbers, scattered 
through the lower and northern parts of North Carolina, as 
early as the year 1695. These Baptists, as we learn, had 
gone over to that colony from contiguous portions of Vir- 
ginia, to escape the intolerance of her laws. The removal 
of Baptists from Virginia is surely sufficient evidence that 
there were Baptists in Virginia. 



26 EARLY BAPTISTS 

Thus have we seen, from the state of religion in Europe, 
especially among the classes most likely to emigrate at the 
time ; from the history and laws of the colony, and from 
the character of her people, and especially of some who 
emigrated hence to the contiguous colony of Xorth Caro- 
lina ; to what extent the Baptist element prevailed in Vir- 
ginia, from its settlement, in 1607, to the organization of 
the first churches in 1714. We cannot doubt that Baptist 
influence was perpetually felt, and that Baptist sentiments 
were not unknown to the people ; but that they were over- 
borne and prevented from public organization by the 
severity of the laws enacted for their suppression, and the 
strong arm of power, under the pressure of which they 
perpetually labored. Those great principles, therefore, pro- 
nounced by Bancroft, " Safe in their immortality," found an 
asylum not alone in Rhode Island, but in the South also, 
where, during many years, they were silently but effectually 
working out the most glorious results. While, consequently, 
Williams was achieving " soul liberty" for America, in 
Providence, and Bunyan for England, in Bedford jail, there 
were not wanting those who, in the wilds of Virginia, were 
battling as best they might, for the same great cause, and 
under circumstances that the more loudly proclaim their 
steadfastness, since they had no churches to countenance, 
nor ministers to instruct and lead them. They stood alone, 
isolated, unencouraged, denounced ; yet unmoved. The 
Bible was their only guide, and " God their refuge and 
strength, a very present help in trouble." 

IT. What were the circumstances under which Baptist 
principles first became embodied in visible churches in 
Virginia % 

Little attention has been given to this part of our history 
by our own writers, and the accounts of it by Pedobaptists, 



INVIKGINIA. 27 

from which, mainly, the reading world have derived their 
impressions, are singularly distorted and erroneous. Take 
as an example the historian of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in Virginia. This learned gentleman gravely tells 
his readers that the first Baptist immigrants to Virginia 
arrived in the year 1714; that no churches appeared until 
after 1765, when we had, in truth, more than fifty; that 
these churches sprang up in- Amelia county, a part of the 
State where our principles did not at first prevail ; and that 
their preachers came from the North, a few only having 
originated in the South ; just the reverse of the facts * 
These, and like falsifications, arise I imagine, not from any 
wish they may feel to misrepresent us, but simply from 
their indisposition to seek the necessary information. They 
doubtless had heard or seen some such reports, and, without 
examination, recorded them as verities. "Whether, how- 
ever, they were the result of ignorance, of carelessness, or 
of design, they ought long since to have been exposed and 
corrected. Why have they, up to this hour, remained 
unnoticed and unrefuted] Have we, even in our own 
ranks, had no friends who have cared for the honor or the 
memory of our fathers l Who of our Baptist writers 
have reviewed these Pedobaptist annalists, and turned aside 
the force of their disingenuous, uncandid and injurious 
representations] Not one. On the contrary, so far have 
they been from uttering rebukes, that sometimes they have 
shown a disposition to amuse themselves with these fables ; 
but more frequently to repeat, as true, the ludicrous but 
piously told stories of men, whose knowledge of the word 
of God, abundant labors, and extraordinary success, and 
usefulness, ought to have commanded the profoundest 
reverence of them all. I cannot — God forbid that I ever 
should, — look with indifference upon the conduct, or seem 
in any manner to approve the spirit of those who either 
* Hist. Prot. Ep. Ch. in Va., pp. 120, 121. 



28 EARLY BAPTISTS 

falsify our history or derogate from the just character and 
fame of our ecclesiastical fathers. I proceed to state the 
facts which belong to the origin of our Virginia churches. 

Much is due. as to this movement, to the influence of the 
••Act of Toleration." defective and even oppressive as was 
that act in itself, passed by the English Parliament in the 
first year of the reign of William and Mary. The law 
was doubtless authoritative in the American colonies. This 
opinion was. however, in some quarters, warmly contested. 
In Xew York, for example, in the case of Maekaniie. it 
was denied by the Court, and the law there declared to be 
inoperative. The act, upon the English Statute Book, was 
entitled. * ; An Act for exempting their Majesties' Protestant 
subject sating from the Church of England, from 

penalties of certain laws. Chapter XYTIL" This law. 
from it- fer _ : . could not extend to B _ either in Eng- 

land or America, since Baptists are not. and 
ftvtestomts. The crovemments, however, of both countries 
chose to place them in that category, and they did not think 
proper to object, since, if not Protestants, they were Dis- 
senters, and needed much the indulgence of which they 
would thereby have been deprived. The first public 
acknowledgment of this law. in Virginia, was ten years 
after its adoption in the mother country, as part of an act 
entitled. " An Act for the more effectual suppressing of 
blasphemy, swearing, cursing, drunkenness, and Sabbath- 
breaking.'''' passed in the Legislature of 1699. The associ- 
ation was strange, but nevertheless that in which it 
appeared. This act refers to the English law only in a 
proviso at its close, as follows : ; - Provided always, that if 
any person or persons, dissenting from the Church of Eng- 
land, beinsf every way qualified, according to an act of 
Parliament, made in the first year of our sovereign lord the 
king, that now is. and the late queen, Mary, of blessed 
memory, entitled ; An Act for exempting their Majesties' 



IN VIRGINIA. 29 

subjects, dissenting from the Church of England, from 
penalties of certain laws,' shall resort and meet at any con- 
gregation or place of religious worship, permitted and 
allowed by the said Act of Parliament, once in two months, 
that then the said penalties and forfeitures imposed by the 
act [for Sabbath-breaking, as above, and] for refusing to 
resort to their parish church or chapel, as aforesaid, shall 
not be taken to extend to such person or persons." But it 
is remarkable that this " statute of William and Mary" 
never was placed on record in the colony. Not one person 
in a thousand could therefore know its contents. In the 
revisal of the laws of Virginia of 1705, which was the fifth, 
this law was introduced, in terms still more slight, in Act 
30, " For the suppression of vice." It appears simply in 
general terms, in a parenthesis. Those interested were left 
to discover, if they could, to what privileges they were 
thereby entitled.* Beverly, in his history, and Present 
State of Virginia, explains the provisions of the statute in 
question. He says, " The people are generally of the 
Church of England, which is the religion established by 
law in the country, from which there are few dissenters. 
Yet liberty of conscience is given to all other congregations 
pretending to Christianity, on condition they submit to all 
parish duties." t That is, they were required to pay their 
full proportion for the support of the parish minister of the 
established church ; to receive marriage at his hands and 
in the form of the State Church ; to pay all parish rates for 
building and repairing the meeting-houses of the established 
church, and for purchasing, cultivating and repairing the 
glebes ; and when they had done this, then, if they could 
get a license from the authorities for a place, they might 
build a meeting-house on it for themselves ; and if their 
minister could get a license to preach there, he might do 

* Foote's Sketches, pp. 48, 49. 

t Ed. 1705, Book 4th, Part 1st, Chap. 7, p. 27. 



30 EARLY BAPTISTS 

so ; and provided they could prove that they attended his 
preaching once a month, they were exempt from the pains 
and penalties denounced against those who did not conform 
to the Church of England. This was toleration ! This 
was liberty of conscience in the days of Pedobaptist rule 
and dominion! 

The facts now submitted will explain the reasons why 
the people, during twenty years, knew so little of " the Act 
of Toleration of William and Mary," or of what the 
Colony would permit them to do in religion. This act did 
not appear upon the statute-book, and was referred to only 
in general terms, and in the slightest manner. Whether 
all this was designed, it is not my province to determine. 
The knowledge of the law at length reached the people, 
and meagre as were its provisions, they accepted them. 
Indeed, the dissenters were thereby greatly emboldened. 
They were in consequence ready and disposed, not only to 
express their sentiments freely, but also to carry them out 
into public action. They could now, as they supposed, 
appear in their true character, without the risk of fines, 
imprisonments, or banishment from the country which con- 
tained their earthly all. The first public ecclesiastical 
movement, by our fathers, was made by the citizens of Isle 
of Wight and Surry counties, on the south side of the river, 
opposite Jamestown. In large numbers, on an appointed 
day, of their own accord, having no minister to suggest it, or 
to lead them, they assembled to advise with each other, as to 
the measures proper to be adopted to supply their spiritual 
wants. They were not, as Dr. Hawks has told you, a com- 
pany of immigrants, but the citizen yeornanry, and resident 
in the country. After mature deliberation, they decided to 
address on the subject, not their friends at the north, as you 
have been informed, but their friends in England. They 
did so immediately, earnestly soliciting that Baptist minis- 
ters might be sent among them, for their instruction and 



IN VIRGINIA. 31 

guidance. This communication may doubtless be found 
among the archives of the British churches, with much 
other correspondence, private and official, which, if recov- 
ered, would do much to disembarrass the history, not only 
of " The early Baptists of Virginia," but also of Baptists in 
all the other American colonies. Their communications 
were duly received by the brethren in the British metro- 
polis. They kindly entertained their requests, and in com- 
pliance, ordained and sent to Virginia, Robert Nordin and 
Thomas White. This event transpired in the city of Lon- 
don, in May, 1714. One of these missionaries died on his 
passage hither ; the other in due time arrived, and com- 
menced his labors. These were soon after followed by 
Messrs. Jones, Mintz, and others, all of whom were received 
with the warmest affection, and preached, not only without 
molestation, but with most gratifying success. The results 
were the organization, during the first year of their labors, 
of a church at Burleigh, in Isle of Wight county, which 
has since taken the name of Mill Swamp ; another at Bran- 
don, in Surry, believed now to be Otterdams ; and subse- 
quently others still. Thus arose the first Baptist churches 
in the colony of Virginia. 

While these events were transpiring in the southern, 
others of like character were taking place in the northern 
part of the Commonwealth. Numerous Baptists, previous 
to 1743, were resident in London, Berkeley, and contiguous 
counties. In compliance with their solicitation, they were 
visited and instructed by Messrs. Loveall, Heaton, Garrard, 
and other ministers, probably from the Welsh settlements 
in Pennsylvania. Churches, there, were soon gathered and 
organized : first Opecon, then Mill Creek, then Ketockton, 
and then still others. These, with the southern churches, 
solicited and obtained membership in the Philadelphia 
Association. From this relation they derived many and 
very great advantages. Especially were they favored with 



32 EARLY BAPTISTS 

the advice and assistance of that truly able body, whose 
ministers paid them frequent and most refreshing visits ; 
among whom, the labors of James Miller, David Thomas, 
and John Gano, can by the Virginians never be forgotten. 

The laws of the colony, to which I have referred, 
remained unrepealed. But the impunity of our brethren 
was maintained by the influence of three co-operating 
causes. The first was found in the " Law of Toleration," 
before alluded to. It was presumed, that if citizens did 
not disturb or injure others thereby ; paid their tithes for 
the support of the established church, and were otherwise 
loyal subjects of the king; they might be suffered generally 
to worship God humbly in their own way. The second 
was the great demoralization, at that time, of the ministry 
and most of the members of the State church. They rolled 
in wealth and luxury ; w r ere careful only of their revenues 
and their pleasures ; and secure in their position, they were 
indifferent to the spiritual condition of the masses of the 
people. And the third was the spirit of liberality which 
had long been gaining ground in the public mind. The 
bigotry of the old world had failed to fix itself so indelibly 
upon the minds of the people of the new. They were, in 
truth, not much influenced by any feeling that could pro- 
perly be called religious. But the grand cause was the 
blessing of God. " The time to favor Zion, yea, the set 
time had come ;" and the true principles of the gospel 
struck their roots irradicably into the mental soil of Vir- 
ginia. Church after church noiselessly arose, like the 
shining out of the stars of evening, and sparkled like gems 
in the American firmament, which they were destined, 
ere long, to fill with radiance and beauty. 

III. From the period at which we have now arrived, to 
the close of the last century, how extraordinary was the 
progress of our principles among the people ! 



IN VIKGINIA. 33 

Gradually, and surely, the cause had extended itself. 
New churches were continually springing up. The day 
had dawned. The rising sun was gilding all the landscape. 
Shubael Stearns arrived. A new era was inaugurated. Mr. 
Stearns was reared in Boston ; was a minister of " The 
Established Order" of Massachusetts ; had been from prin- 
ciple compelled to become a Baptist ; had there been bap- 
tised, and ordained ; and had wandered to the south, in 
hopes of greater usefulness. He settled with his family, at 
Cacapon, in Hampshire county, where with great earnest- 
ness, and many anxieties, he began to preach the gospel. 
Soon after his settlement, he was joined by his brother in 
law, Mr. Daniel Marshall, a Presbyterian minister, origi- 
nally of Windsor, Connecticut, who for some years previous 
had been laboring voluntarily, and from a sense of duty, 
among the Indians, on the Susquehanna. The war now 
raging between them, and the Maryland colony, had 
destroyed his hopes of any further benefit to them, and he 
naturally bent his steps towards the contiguous residence 
of his relatives in Virginia. Meantime, Mr. Marshall also, 
had become a convert to our faith. He, too, was baptised, 
ordained as an evangelist, and entered immediately, with 
great zeal, upon the work of preaching the gospel of 
Christ. The activity, and laborious exertions of these 
two men of God, were in modern times wholly unpre- 
cedented. Not content with laboring in the vicinity of 
their residence, they visited other places, and were soon 
travelling, and proclaiming salvation throughout the entire 
length, and breadth of the colony. They found a warm 
co-operation on the part of the pastors. " The fields were 
white unto the harvest." God poured out his Holy Spirit. 
One universal impulse pervaded, apparently, the minds of 
the whole people. Evidently hungering for the bread of 
life, they came together in vast multitudes. Every where 
the ministry of these men was attended with the most 

3 



~ - KABLY BAPTISTS 

extraordinary success. Very large numbers were baptise 
Churches sprang up by scores. Among the converts were 
many able men. who at once entered the ministry, and 
swelled continually the ranks of the messengers of salvation. 
The enthusiasm with which they all. ministers and people, 
engaged in this work, and the rapidity with which the 
gospel was transmitted from neighborhood to neighborhood, 
may not unfitly be described in the energetic language 
with which JEschylus depicts the progress of the beacon 
fii 3 that announced the fall of Troy : — 

~ ram _ : ::'_:: —.: : _ it leapt that light, 
As a rider rode the flame." 

The importance of some more intimate bond of union, 
and intercourse anions: themselves, through which thev 
might more readily and effectually co-operate in their 
u works of faith, and labors of love,*' now began to be 
deeply felt, by the accumulated churches in both Virginia 
and the Carolinas. After much consultation and prayer. 
the Charleston Association was formed, according to the 
model of the Philadelphia, the third in order of time, in 
the colonies. This body came into existence in 1751. and 
embraced churches in both the Carolinas ; and in 175S the 
Sandy Creek, the fourth, formed of churches in Virginia, 
and North; and probably South Carolina. Thus the cause 
~ ":. ; greatly accelerated. The advance of the denom 'nation 
was still onward, and it was soon found that the territory 
of these Association* much too large for active effi- 

ciency, and the churches too numerous to justify the hope 
that these bodies could call forth and effectually employ all 
those energies for usefulness with which God had so abun- 
dantlv favored them. During the sessions, therefore, of 
1770, the churches in Virginia were dismissed in a body, 
for that purpose, and on the second Saturday in May. 1771. 
at Craig's, in Orange County, most of them, and especially 



IN VIRGINIA. 35 

the Separate churches, were provisionally organized, and 
constituted, under the name of " the General Association of 
Virginia"* Thenceforward Baptists in Virginia were num- 
bered not by hundreds, but by tens of thousands. 

IV. We now inquire into the causes of the extraordinary 
success, with which the Baptists were favored in Virginia. 

During a whole century they were vigilantly watched, 
and carefully kept down, by the powerful arm of the colo- 
nial government. Throughout this entire period, they 
conducted themselves with great circumspection, and pru- 
dence. The night of their oppression was long, and dreary. 
The tardy morning came at length. Like a concealed 
army, they sprang up from every nook, and glen, and 
plain, and hill, in the colony; and coming together, com- 
menced their conquering, onward march. Their success 
arose, as we all know, from the blessing of God, upon his 
own truth, which they loved, embraced, adorned, and 
taught. " God is in his truth." He, sooner or later, will 
make it triumphant. There were, however, secondary 
causes; providential circumstances, and events; instru- 
mentalities of various characters ; which combined to pro- 
duce this result. To these I refer more especially. 

And the first I shall mention is found in the peculiar 
character of the people. 

From the great world around them, they were almost 
completely isolated. Widely scattered in their deep forests, 
among their hills, and upon their broad plains, they acquired 
habits of self-reliance, which naturally extended themselves 
into every department of life. To preserve their families 
from the savage enemies that environed them, every man 
planned his own modes of attack, and defence. Their 
pecuniary, and domestic affairs, they were obliged to con- 

* Semple's History of the Virginia Baptists, p. 41, et seq. 



36 EARLY BAPTISTS 

duct with little counsel from others. In a word, they were 
compelled, on all subjects, to think for themselves. Nor 
when this disposition is once formed, can it ever afterwards 
be repressed. It extends itself alike to temporal, and 
spiritual things ; to the world, and to religion. They were 
not in circumstances to be overawed, or trammelled, by 
those dominant prejudices, or perverted opinions, which 
flow out from cities, and from rich and populous neigh- 
borhoods. With their Bibles in their hands, and little 
else in the form of literature ; and accustomed to inde- 
pendent thought; they were prepared to weigh intelli- 
gently, and candidly, the teachings of our fathers. They 
saw that they embraced, as did those of no other denomi- 
nation, truly and fully, the Gospel of Christ, as revealed 
in the divine word. They, therefore, gave them their 
cheerful and entire assent. 

Another cause of their great success, may be seen in the 
character of the established religion of the colony. 

The masses of men who read the Bible, and especially 
those who have become accustomed to free thought, and 
action, do not ordinarily relish the shackles of an esta- 
blished religion ; and particularly are they not very hearty 
in the payment of heavy taxes imposed by the state, for its 
support; even when they cherish for that religion, and its 
teachers, a sincere respect. But when both have ceased to 
command their reverence, and others appear to them, more 
consonant with the word of God, it is difficult to detain 
them within that control which they cannot look upon but 
with feelings of repulsion. Precisely such a state of things 
now existed in Virginia. The people were tired of the 
bonds, and the burdens of the church. Nor was this all. 
With her arrogant pretensions, and her persecuting spirit, 
they were thoroughly disgusted. This dislike was greatly 
increased by the prevalent irreligion, and subsequent tory- 
ism, of her ministers, and other officers. Speaking of them, 



IN VIRGINIA. 37 

Dr. Semple remarks : — " The loose and immoral deportment 
of her clergy was such, that the people were left almost 
destitute of even the shadow of religion. They had, indeed, 
some of its forms of worship, but the essential principles of 
Christianity, were not only not understood among them, 
but by many never heard of."* The historian of the 
Episcopal Church in Virginia, quoting from Hammond, 
says of them : — " They could babble in a pulpit ; roar in a 
tavern ; exact from their parishioners ; and rather by their 
dissoluteness destroy, than feed their flocks. "f In another 
place he says : — " Many of the clergy, were unfit for their 
stations. The precariousness of the tenure by which they 
held their livings, contributed also, not a little, to beget in 
them a spirit of indifference in the discharge of their duties ; 
and to complete the list of unpropitious circumstances, the 
irregularities and crimes of an unworthy clergyman, could 
not be visited effectually, with the severities of ecclesias- 
tical censure. "J The Legislature, therefore, attempted to 
remedy the evil, and the character and morals of these men 
maybe further understood by the terms of the act of 1776, 
as follows : — " Be it further enacted by this Grand Assem- 
bly, and by the authority thereof, that such ministers as 
shall become notoriously scandalous, by drunkenness, 
swearing, fornication, or other heinous and crying sins, and 
shall be thereof lawfully convicted, shall for every such 
their heinous crime, and wickedness ;" and the law pro- 
ceeds to prescribe penalties.§ Is it surprising that for such 
a ministry, the best portions of the people entertained no 
respect whatever \ The revolution at length broke out, 
and large numbers of " the state clergy," at once proved 
themselves tories ; were allied with the enemies of the 
Commonwealth, and not a few of them fled for refuge to 
the bosom of the mother country. So repulsive did they 

* Hist. Ya. Bapt., pp. 25, 26. t Hawks, p. 65. 

% Ut supra, 89. I Heniug's Stat., Yol. II., p. 384. 



38 E A ELY BAPTISTS 

become on these accounts, that one at least, after preaching 
an offensive sermon, was taken into the woods, by a body 
of whigs, and soundly flogged, for his enmity to his 
country. Another, to avoid a similar result, carried pistols 
with him into the pulpit. These and others, introduced 
their loyalty into the very services of the Sabbath day. 
Nor, (I regret to record it,) do these acts of their fathers, 
meet the entire reprobation of their successors of the 
present day. The punishment of the former, the Episcopal 
historian calls insult and persecution ; and of the latter he 
says : — " Such firmness was not without its effect, the reso- 
lute minister was never interrupted ; his house became the 
asylum of many of his persecuted brethren [the tories] as 
one of the surest places of safety."* Apologising for them, 
Dr. Hawks says:— "The clergy were generally friends to 
the mother country." "Admit the fact," he continues, 
" that the view which they entertained was erroneous (as it 
certainly was) still it might have been, and in many cases 
was, a very honest error." " The question as to the proper 
course to be pursued, was one on which honest, and intelli- 
gent men, might easily differ." " Before, therefore, we 
condemn all who in the perilous struggle, took part with 
the mother country, we should place ourselves, in imagina- 
tion, in their situation, and it may serve to temper the 
harshness of our judgment." " But the error was not con- 
fined to the clergy. A portion of the laity adopted their 
opinions. It was, however, very small, for the mass of the 
population in Virginia was opposed to England, and this 
rendered the situation of the clergy only the more disagree- 
able."! However good their reasons for being tories, when 
the people who were fighting for liberty, and shedding their 
blood like water, exclaiming with Henry, " Give me liberty 
or give me death," saw their pastors turn against them, and 

* Hawk's History, &c, pp. 145, 146, 147. 
f Hist. Epis. Cb. in Virginia, pp. 135, 136. 



IN VIRGINIA. 39 

join their enemies, their indignation was natural and com- 
plete. They cast them off with contempt ; and they natu- 
rally turned to the Baptists, who, to a man, stood by their 
country. Not one Baptist ever was known to desert the 
cause of freedom. Patriots and pious men, while they 
turned away from the parish churches with loathing, on 
account of their arrogance, the irreligion and the toryism 
of their ministers, heard the fervid discourses of our breth- 
ren, their fellow patriots, with great respect and kindness. 

Still another cause of the great success of " the early 
Baptists of Virginia," was the measures adopted by the 
colonial rulers to arrest the progress of their principles. 

The magistrates, in all parts of the Commonwealth, 
impelled and directed by the state clergy, and their more 
zealous friends, commenced a relentless annoyance of the 
people, and a heartless persecution of the ministers of our 
churches. Attempts were made to set aside the Toleration 
Act, and old and obsolete laws were hunted up, such as those 
to which we have referred, and essays were made to enforce 
their provisions. Assessments were prosecuted with new 
vigilance ; fines were imposed and collected ; meetings 
were disturbed and violently dispersed; and pastors, and 
other ministers, were arrested, dragged before the courts, 
brow-beaten, and ignominiously punished. All this, and 
more, is acknowledged by the ministers and historians of 
the " State Church" themselves. Dr. Hawks, for example, 
says, " No dissenters in Virginia experienced, for a time, 
harsher treatment than did the Baptists. They were 
beaten and imprisoned, and cruelty taxed its ingenuity to 
devise new modes of punishment and annoyance. The 
usual consequences followed. Persecution made friends for 
its victims ; and the men who were not permitted to speak 
in public, found willing auditors in the sympathizing crowds, 
who gathered around the prisons, to hear them preach from 



40 EARLY BAPTISTS 

the grated windows. It is not improbable," he adds, " that 
this very opposition imparted strength in another mode, 
inasmuch as it at least furnished the Baptists with a 
common ground on which to make resistance."* In 
all the prisons where our brethren were incarcerated, they 
preached daily, from the windows, to the crowds who there 
assembled to hear them. This was especially true of 
Fredericksburg, Chesterfield Court House, Essex, Middle- 
sex, King and Queen, Culpepper, and many other places. 
Rev. Eleazar Clay, a relative and the guardian of the distin- 
guished statesman, Henry Clay, with reference to those who 
had there professed religion, writes thus, to the Eev. John 
Williams : " We wish you to come down and baptise those 
who are now waiting for an opportunity. The Lord is 
carrying on a glorious work in our county [Chesterfield]. 
The preaching at the prison is not attended in vain, for we 
hope that several are converted, while others are under 
great distress, and made to cry out, ' What shall we do to 
be savedT"t The feelings of the people with regard to 
their persecutors, under these circumstances, can readily be 
imagined. And who were the men thus harassed and mal- 
treated'? In social position, intelligence, wealth, and 
general respectability, they were in no way inferior, and in 
morals and uprightness they were greatly superior to their 
assailants. Public sentiment sympathized with the Bap- 
tists, and frowned indignantly upon those supercilious 
officials, who, because they happened to be 

" Clothed in a little brief authority, 
Cut such fantastic tricks before high heaven, 
As make the angels weep." 

Yet another cause of their great success, was the conso- 
nance between Baptist doctrines, on political subjects, and 

* Hist. Prot. Ep. Ch. in Ya„ p. 121. 

t Taylor's Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers, pp. 203, 204. 



IN VIRGINIA. 41 

the spirit of liberty which had now taken entire possession 
of the hearts of the people. 

Complete separation of church and state ; perfect free- 
dom of conscience and worship; and the right of every 
citizen to full and equal protection by the government in the 
exercise of all his privileges, social, political and religious ; 
were sentiments held, maintained, and constantly advocated 
by Baptists, and by no other denomination in the colony. By 
Episcopalians, Methodists, and, to a great extent, by Pres- 
byterians, these principles were denounced as pestilential 
heresies, to be deplored, and if possible, destroyed. To 
their value and importance, the progress of events had 
opened the eyes of the people. They saw plainly, the great 
truth, that no state that does not fully embrace them, ever 
can be really free. The time of their triumph had now 
come. Our ministers, and people, proclaimed them boldly. 
The masses received them everywhere with delight. By 
thousands, therefore, they ranged themselves on the side 
of the Baptists. 

The great success of our doctrines was however due, 
under God, still more to the peculiar character of the 
preaching of the times. 

Never was there a ministry more perfectly adapted to the 
people of that age, and to the times in which they lived, 
and labored ; and never was there a population more ready 
to receive and obey the truth. Nor was their work seriously 
retarded, at any time, by controversies among themselves ; 
all that has been said on this subject, by our assailants, and 
even our friends, to the contrary notwithstanding. They 
were not free from discussions on what are known in 
modern times as Calvinism and Arminianism; subjects on 
which the best and most learned men, in no age of the 
Church, have ever been able perfectly to harmonize. Epis- 
copacy also, from which, as seen in the established church, 



42 EARLY BAPTISTS 

so many of them had withdrawn themselves, still lingered 
in the ranks of " The Early Baptists of Virginia," Their 
judgments had been beclouded by its teachings, to which 
they had listened from their childhood, and did not at once, 
see the simple and beautiful polity of the church, as taught 
by Christ, and his apostles. Upon this subject also, for a 
season, they were warmly agitated. But all their differ- 
ences were discussed with a prayerfulness, christian cour- 
tesy, and brotherly love, unknown to any other Christians 
of that age, and therefore soon resulted, as we shall here- 
after see more fully, in a harmony as complete perhaps, as 
any of which imperfect human nature is capable. Never 
has there been a church existing through so many centu- 
ries, and of numbers so great, which has preserved a more 
perfect union than the Baptists. Especially, never has 
there been a more harmonious church, than that of " The 
Early Baptists of Virginia." * All this must be at once 
apparent to every intelligent man who, without prejudice, 
reads the ecclesiastical history of Virginia for the last 
century. 

The ministry of that period, were generally received from 
the masses to whom they preached, and with whose char- 
acter, circumstances and peculiarities they were intimately 
acquainted. And nearly every discourse, however learned, 
or unlearned the preacher, was constructed upon very much 
the same model. With great clearness, and simplicity, they 
first presented the lost condition of man by nature ; the 
depravity of the human heart; and the impossibility of 
deliverance by the law, or by any acts of obedience, ordi- 
nances, or works of merit whatever. They next depicted 
vividly, the way of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
with its gracious characteristics, bearings and relations. 
An explanation followed, of the manner in which that sal- 

* I employ here the word church, not with strict scriptural propriety, but in 
accordance with the usages of the times. 



IN VIRGINIA. 43 

vation is personally applied, by the work of the Holy Spirit 
in the heart of the believer, accompanied always by repen- 
tance towards God and faith in the Redeemer. They now 
recounted the mental phenomena attendant upon true 
spiritual regeneration, with the temptations, trials, and 
encouragements, characteristic of genuine christian expe- 
rience. They closed by an earnest appeal to Christians, 
suitably to adorn their holy profession, and to sinners to 
accept this great salvation. Every sermon they uttered, 
went directly to the heart. Multitudes heard, believed, 
obeyed, and rejoiced. 

These, mainly, were the causes which gave to " The 
Early Baptists of Virginia" their extraordinary success. 

V. We now consider the controversies that prevailed 
among " The Early Baptists of Virginia," and the harmony, 
doctrinal and practical, at which they at length arrived. 

On two topics only, of any special importance, were they 
not agreed. These were, as already stated, the doctrines 
of predestination, and of episcopacy; and both they may, in 
some sense, be said to have inherited from their fathers of 
a former period. To these we will now refer, in the order 
in which they have been named. 

The doctrines subsequently known in ecclesiastical his- 
tory, as Calvinism and Arminianism, attracted no special 
attention until the days of Augustine, whose contests with 
Pelagius brought them forward. After his times, they 
were confined very much to the schools. Baptists were not 
agitated with these questions, until the reformation under 
Luther occurred. Soon afterwards, however, they were 
often discussed by our brethren, and ultimately divided 
them into two parties ; the one assuming Arminian ground, 
and known as General Baptists ; and the other maintaining 
Calvinistic ground, and known as Particular Baptists. To- 



4-4 E A ELY BAPTISTS 

gether these two classes have always formed one of the 
largest bodies of English dissenters, and have counted 
among their number, many of the most distinguished men 
England has ever produced. To say nothing of their lay- 
men, such as Harrison, Ludlow, Lilburn, Penn, DeLaune, 
and others, their list of ministers was most brilliant. 
The names of Bunyan, Tombes, Bampfield, Gosnold, 
Knollys, Denne, Cox, Jesse, Du Veil, Dell, Smyth, 
Helwisse, Barbour, Grantham, Eussell, Gale, Emlyn, 
Whiston, Foster, Toulmin, Kiffin, Steed, Vaux, the 
Collins', Lamb, Price, Keats, Harris, Sutton, Adams, 
Mann, the Stennetts, Piggott, Stinton, Gill and GifTord 
— not to mention multitudes of others — would give fame 
to any denomination of Christians, in any age of the 
world.* Had these great men "agreed to disagree" on 
the subject of predestination, and their people have 
mingled freely together, their differences would soon have 
been forgotten. Unhappily they did not, and they were 
perpetuated as two distinct denominations. 

The Baptist immigrants to America came from both 
these classes, and for a season associated with each other, 
in this country, indiscriminately. When, however, Baptist 
principles began to flourish in Virginia, and churches to be 
multiplied, their hereditary differences again came up, and 
soon they separated from each other, and General Baptist 
churches and ministers, and Particular Baptist churches and 
ministers, were scattered alternately throughout the whole 
land. For some cause, however, not now readily ascer- 
tained, they assumed here new names. In Virginia they 
were not, as in England, General and Particular, but 
Separate and Regular Baptists; but their doctrines were 
the same as before. Anterior to the formation of the 
General Association, essays had been made for a union 
between these two parties, which were conducted with 
* Benedict's History of the Baptists, edition 1848, pp. 220, et seq. 



IN VIRGINIA. 45 

great kindness, but which were not entirely successful. 
They were forwarded earnestly, by brethren on both sides. 
The first movement in this direction was made in 1767. 
In 1769, the Separate Baptist Association, the Sandy 
Creek, held in North Carolina, was addressed by the 
Ketockton, a Regular Baptist Association in northern Vir- 
ginia, as follows : 

" Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ : — The bearers of 
this letter [they were Rev. Messrs. Garret, Mager and 
Saunders] can acquaint you with the design of writing it. 
Their errand is peace, and their business is a reconciliation 
between us, if there is any difference subsisting. If we 
are all Christians ; all Baptists ; all New Lights [a recent 
name of reproach], why are we divided \ Must the little 
appellative names, Regular and Separate, break the golden 
band of charity, and set the sons and daughters of Zion at 
variance \ ' Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for 
brethren to dwell together in unity !' But how bad and 
how bitter it is, for them to live asunder in discord ! To 
indulge ourselves in prejudice, is surely disorder; and to 
quarrel about nothing, is irregularity with a witness. O, 
dear brethren, endeavor to prevent this calamity for the 
future." 

The subject was long discussed, and a union only pre- 
vented at that time, by an apparent necessity of settling with 
more deliberation some of its details. This, as it appears, 
was the last session of the Sandy Creek Association. The 
body met again the next year, but only to arrange for 
separating into three kindred bodies : the churches in South 
Carolina to meet and organize at Saluda, in that State ; in 
North Carolina, at Haw River, for the same purpose ; and 
in Virginia, to meet at Thompson's, in Louisa county, 
where the General Association was finally formed ;* after 
a preliminary meeting at Craig's, in Orange county, held 

* Semple's History, 'pp. 45-47. 



46 EARLY BAPTISTS 

in May of the same year to which we have before referred. 
Thus, for a season, the desired union was, as appears, pro- 
videntially postponed. 

Happily, churches and ministers of hoth parties were 
found, in the beginning, occupying places in the General 
Association. The first intimation of a continued desire for 
the establishment of a union, more formally and perfectly, 
appeared in the proceedings of that body during the session 
of 1773, in the appointment of a delegation, consisting of 
Eev. Messrs. Samuel Harris, E. Craig, John Waller, and 
David Thompson, to visit and confer with the Kehukee 
Association, then occupying parts of lower Virginia and 
North Carolina.* In 1774, the subject again came up, on 
a " Question concerning a Confession of Faith." Such a 
paper was decided to be proper for Churches, rather than 
Associations.f The session of 1775 was rendered unhappy 
by a discussion and defence, not of the. union proposed, but 
of the points of difference between the General and Par- 
ticular Baptists. Samuel Harris, Jeremiah Walker, John 
Waller, and others, defended the principles of the former ; 
and those of the latter were sustained by William Murphy, 
John Williams, E. Craig, and others.J The discussions, 
conducted with great ability, candor and Christian courtesy, 
were continued throughout the whole of Monday. At the 
close of the day, a decision was made, in which it was 
found that, by a very small majority, the sentiment of the 
body was adverse to the Arminian opinion. After this 
decision, the friends of General Baptist principles, consult- 
ing together, determined again to bring up the subject the 
next day, upon the question, whether their opinions would 
be made, by their brethren on the other side, " A bar to 
fellowship and communion." When they met on Tuesday, 

* Ut supra, p. 45. fldem, p. 57. 

t Pamphlets were written on the subject, by some of these geutlemeu, which 
I have not seen. 



IN VIEGINIA. 47 

the two parties assembled separately. Their communica- 
tions were all by messages, either verbal or written. The 
scene was painful in the highest degree. Ultimately the 
Arminian party addressed the other as follows : 

" Dear brethren, — A steady union with you makes us 
willing to be more explicit in our answer to your terms of 
reconciliation proposed. We do not deny the former part 
of your proposition, respecting particular election of grace, 
still retaining our liberty with regard to construction. And 
as to the latter part, respecting merit in the creature, we 
are free to profess that there is none." 

To this very gratifying communication, the Predestina- 
rians responded thus : 

" Dear brethren, — Inasmuch as your christian fellowship 
seems nearly as dear to us as our lives, and seeing our 
difficulties concerning your principles with respect to merit 
in the creature, particular election, and final perseverance 
of the saints, are in a hopeful measure removing, we do 
willingly retain you in fellowship, not raising the least bar ; 
but do heartily wish and pray that God, in his kind provi- 
dence, in his own time, may bring it about, when Israel 
shall all be of one mind, speaking the same things." 

The work was now done. The parties came joyfully 
together. Delight was in every heart. The Association 
resumed and finished its business. Their reunion was as 
happy as their conflict had been distressing.* 

On the dissolution of the General Association, in 1783, 
the subject of union again came up, on a renewed propo- 
sition to adopt a Declaration of Faith. The brethren 
present fixed upon the one adopted at Philadelphia, with 
various modifications, especially with respect to the neces- 
sity that all should embrace its teachings in every particular. 
They were careful that this symbol should " Not usurp a 
tyrannical power over the consciences of any." They said 

* Semple's History, pp. 60, 61. 



48 E A ELY BAPTISTS 

and recorded the decision : " We do not mean that every 
person is to be bound to the strict observance of every thing 
therein contained, nor do we mean to make it, in any 
respect, superior or equal to the Scriptures in matters of 
faith and practice." All we propose is, to express the 
opinion that it is " The best human composition of the kind 
now extant, yet it shall be liable to alterations whenever 
the General Committee, in behalf of the Associations, shall 
think fit."* 

The relations of brethren and churches, on both sides, 
continued to be more and more intimate and affectionate. 
The desire for a perfect union had become ardent and uni- 
versal. In the session of the General Committee of 1786, 
the following proceeding was passed unanimously : " It is 
recommended to the different Associations, to appoint 
delegates to attend the next General Committee, for the 
purpose of forming a union." f The Committee assembled 
in annual session at Dover, in Goochland county, August 
10th, 1787. All the Associations in the State were fully 
represented. The record of proceedings, as stated by 
Semple, is as follows : " Agreeably to appointment, the 
subject of the union of Regular [Particular] and Separate 
[General] Baptists, was taken up, and a happy and effec- 
tual reconciliation was accomplished. The objections on 
the part of the Separates related chiefly to matters of 
trivial importance, and had been for some time removed. 
On the other hand, the Regulars complained that the 
Separates were not sufficiently explicit in their principles, 
having never published or sanctioned a Confession of Faith. 
To these things it was answered, by the Separates, that a 
large majority of them believed as much in their Confession 
of Faith as they did themselves, although they did not 
entirely approve of the practice of religious societies bind- 
ing themselves too strictly by Confessions of Faith, seeing 

* Semple's History, pp. 59, 60. f Semple's History, p. 73. 



IN VIRGINIA. 49 

there was danger of their finally usurping too high a place ; 
that if there were among them some who leaned too much 
towards the Arminian system, they were generally men of 
exemplary piety, and great usefulness in the Redeemer's 
kingdom ; and they conceived it better to bear with some 
diversity of opinions in doctrines, than to break with men 
whose christian deportment rendered them amiable in the 
estimation of all true -lovers of genuine godliness. Indeed 
that some of them had now become fathers in the gospel, 
who previous to the bias which their minds had received, 
had borne the brunt and heat of persecution ; whose 
labors, and sufferings God had blessed, and still blessed, to 
the great advancement of his cause ; and that to exclude 
such as these from their communion, would be like tearing 
the limbs from the body. These, and such like arguments, 
were agitated both in public, and in private, so that all 
minds were much mollified before the final, and successful 
attempt for union. The terms of the union were entered 
upon the minutes. They were a general recognition of the 
principles set forth in the Confession of Faith, previously 
adopted, with limitations and explanations, by the General 
Association. After considerable debate, as to the propriety 
of having any Confession of Faith at all, the report of the 
Committee was adopted, with the following explanation : 
" To prevent the Confession of Faith from usurping a 
tyrannical power over the consciences of any, we [repeat 
that] we do not mean [by its adoption] that every person 
is bound to the strict observance of everything therein con- 
tained, yet that it holds forth the essential truths of the 
gospel, and [shows] that the doctrine of salvation by 
Christ, and free and unmerited grace alone, ought to be 
believed by every christian, and maintained by every 
minister of the gospel. Upon these terms we are united, 
and desire that hereafter the names, Regular and Separate, 

be buried in oblivion ; and that from henceforth we shall 

4 



50 EARLY BAPTISTS 

be known by the name of ' The United Baptist Churches 
of Christ, in Virginia.'"* These proceedings were con- 
ducted in the most cordial, and admirable spirit. They 
filled with joy those who were present, and were, by all the 
churches, hailed and ratified with delight. All party feel- 
ing was instantly banished, and never has any one denomi- 
nation been more harmonious than continued to be all The 
Early Baptists of Virginia, 

The other subject of controversy among our fathers, was 
substantially, the doctrine of Episcopacy. This, also, I 
have said, they inherited from their fathers. It came from 
two sources. The former was the English General Baptists, 
among whom it existed, at one time, for a century or more, 
but not in the diocesan form which it assumed in Virginia. 
" Ever attentive," says Taylor, " to Scripture precedents, it 
was not long before they supposed that they discovered, in 
the primitive churches, an officer superior to an Elder. 
They remarked that Barnabas, Luke, Timothy, Titus, and 
several others, were fellow-laborers with the apostles, in the 
preaching of the gospel, and the planting and regulating of 
churches ; and that, in various passages, they were called 
apostles, or, in English, messengers of the churches. They 
thought it probable that the Angels, or Messengers, of the 
seven churches in Asia, to whom the author of the Reve- 
lations addressed his epistles, were also of the same order. 
They therefore introduced an officer into their system, 
whom they styled a Messenger. He was generally chosen 
by an Association of the representatives of the churches in 
a certain district, and ordained by those of his own order, 
-with great solemnity, the various churches keeping seasons 
of prayer and fasting. Sometimes a particular church 
chose a Messenger; but in that case his business appears 
to have been confined to preaching the gospel where it was 
not known, and regulating such churches as he might be 

* Hist. Va, Bapt., pp. 74, 75. 



IN VIRGINIA. 51 

instrumental in planting. It is indeed probable, that, at 
the first, this was the chief object of their appointment; 
an object which demanded peculiar attention when the 
nation was just emerging from the darkness of Popery, and 
Prelacy, and the rays of divine truth had hardly pierced 
the gloom. Fixed pastors could not conveniently itinerate 
in distant parts ; and it would have been thought irregular 
for unauthorized persons to have undertaken it ; but the 
Messengers stood ready for this necessary work, and their 
office called them to it." " They were appointed," says 
Jeffrey, " for the gathering of churches, and the establish- 
ment of them. But when churches increased, and errors, 
and irregularities sprung up among the young converts, and 
inexperienced ministers, it was judged expedient to extend 
the Messengers' work, by assigning to him the superin- 
tendance and, in a sense, the government of those churches 
which united in calling him to the office." 

The duties of these officers are thus described in the 
Confession of 1678 : — " The Bishops have the government 
of those churches that had suffrage in their election, and 
no others ordinarily; as also to preach the word to the 
world." Mr. Grantham says, " their ministry is, 1, to plant 
churches where there are none; 2, to set in order such 
churches as want officers to order their affairs ; 3, to assist 
faithful pastors, or churches against usurpers, and those that 
trouble the peace of particular churches by false doctrine." 
Hook says that their duty was " to plant churches, ordain 
officers, set in order things that were wanting in all the 
churches, to defend the gospel against gainsayers, and to 
travel up and down the world for this purpose." * 

Virginia Baptist Episcopacy was, however, derived, to a 
still greater extent, from another source. Great numbers 
of the Baptists of that day were reared in the Episcopal 
church. The impressions of childhood are hard to efface. 

* Benedict's Hist., pp. 332, 333. 



52 EARLY BAPTISTS 

They had practically, and experimentally, learned the way 
of the Lord more perfectly, but ecclesiastical polity they 
had not studied. The arguments in favor of the hierarchy 
they had been accustomed to admit as scriptural ; and now 
that the love of Christ was shed abroad in their hearts, 
they were most anxious to do all which appeared to them 
to be the will of the Lord. The subject was first intro- 
duced into the General Association, at its session in 1774, 
by the following query : — " Ought all the ministerial gifts, 
recorded in Ephesians iv., 11, 12, 13, to be in use in the 
present time %" The passage in question reads, it will be 
remembered, as follows : — " And he gave [in the Church] 
some apostles ; and some prophets ; and some evangelists ; 
and some pastors and teachers ; — for the perfecting of the 
saints ; for the work of the ministry ; for the edifying of 
the body of Christ ; — till we all come in the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a per- 
fect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of 
Christ." After considerable discussion, it was answered : 
"A great majority suppose that all the ministerial gifts 
recorded in the said scriptures are, and ought to be, still in 
use in the churches ; although we pay due regard to the 
distinction between ordinary, and extraordinary gifts." * 

By this action the friends of episcopacy had obtained a 
recognition of the principle. Their purpose now, was to 
carry this principle out into practice, at as early a day as 
possible. Nothing, however, could be done until the meet- 
ing of the next year, when, to bring it up, they again pro- 
posed the same inquiry to the General Association. " After 
two days' debate," says Dr. Semple, " a majority decided 
that it ought to be put off until the next Association."! 
Meantime, warm discussions were every where carried on, 
whether it was not their duty to originate and ordain 

* Semple's Hist. Ya. Bapt., p. 56. 
f Hist. Ya. Bap., p. 57, 



IN VIRGINIA. _ 53 

Apostles of the churches. Jeremiah Walker, who first 
brought forward the question, was its ablest advocate. He 
wrote a pamphlet in its defence, entitled " Free Thoughts," 
in which he employed most of the arguments commonly 
adduced in support of Episcopacy, by those who maintain 
that form of ecclesiastical polity, and with which you, gen- 
tlemen, are perfectly familiar. The strongest opponent of 
the measure was Reuben Ford, who, in a pamphlet of much 
ability, answered the arguments of Mr. Walker. The 
Association convened, and the discussion commenced, 
during which both these pamphlets were read.* The 
question was at length taken, whether " the said offices 
are now in use in Christ's church V 9 Three only voted 
in the negative, all of whom immediately declared their 
submission to the majority, and the vote was recorded as 
unanimous. It was then decided " that the said offices 
be immediately established, by the appointment of certain 
persons to fill them." The action of the body shows, how- 
ever, that reference was had exclusively to the apostleship, 
which, according to the reasoning of all prelatists, is per- 
petuated in the office of Bishops, which name, however, 
they chose not to introduce. The Association now pro- 
ceeded to elect an Apostle, which they did by private ballot, 
and Samuel Harris was unanimously chosen. The next 
day was observed by the whole Association as a solemn 
fast. The brethren met, and proceeded with the ordina- 
tion. Prayer was offered successively by John Waller, 
Elijah Craig, and John Williams; the hands of every 
ordained minister present were laid upon him ; a solemn 
charge was addressed to him by John Waller ; and the for- 
malities closed with the right hand of fellowship extended 
by the whole Association. All that part of Virginia south 
of James river was fixed as his diocese ; and he went forth 

* Can these pamphlets, and those written by our brethren on the Arminian 
Controversy, now be obtained? 



54 E A ELY BAPTISTS 

commended to the grace of God, by his brethren. Thus was 
inaugurated the first Baptist Bishop in America, and the first 
Baptist Diocesan Bishop the world ever saw. 

But, unhappily, he was not the last. In the autumn of the 
same year another meeting of the Association was held, and 
to officiate in that part of the state north of James river, with 
like forms and observances, John Waller and Elijah Craig 
were solemnly elected, and ordained as Apostles. The 
duties assigned these apostles were " To pervade the 
churches ; to do, or at least see to, the work of ordination ; 
and to set in order things that were wanting ; and to make 
report to the next Association." As a rule of discipline 
applicable to them, the following was recorded : — " If our 
Messenger or Apostle shall transgress in any manner, he 
shall be liable to dealing, in any church where the trans- 
gression is committed ; and the said church is instructed to 
call helps from two or three neighboring churches, and if 
by them, found a transgressor, a General Conference of the 
churches shall be called to excommunicate, or to restore 
him."* 

We now behold The Early Baptists of Virginia occupying 
a new position. They are prelatists, and under the guid- 
ance of three Apostles, or Diocesan Bishops, They all went 
forth, in this form, to their work. The churches and 
brethren generally, had never, it seems, been entirely satis- 
fied as to the correctness of this radical change in their 
polity. It was not, therefore, tacitly accepted. Discus- 
sions and animadversions were renewed, and continued. 
They were no longer confined to their annual meetings. 
The whole subject, though now almost too late, was at 
length thoroughly studied. A change in the public mind, 
was soon apparent. Our brethren learned that Episcopacy 
is derived wholly from the old temple service, under the dis- 
pensation of Moses, as Presbytery is from the synagogue 
* Semple's Hist. Yir. Baptists, pp. 58, 59. 



IN VIRGINIA. 55 

system that prevailed in the later ages of the Hebrew com- 
monwealth; that therefore, they are both forms of Judaism, 
which the christian church cannot adopt without a depar- 
ture from the law of Christ, and, consequently, irreparable 
injury ; that all christians are now priests, and Christ the 
only High Priest ; and that priesthood in any sense not 
common to christians generally, does not enter at all into 
the gospel ministry ; that the Apostles, as soon as they had 
planted churches, appointed for them pastors and teachers, 
who were their substitutes in all respects, except those in 
which they were invested with a peculiar and extraordi- 
nary commission ; that the Apostles were appointed especi- 
ally as a jury of witnesses, to bear testimony to the ministry, 
miracles, and resurrection of Jesus Christ ; that in those 
primary respects, when they died, their office died with 
them ; that the Apostles were divinely inspired to reveal 
and communicate truths not before known, which are re- 
corded in the New Testament, and when that book was 
finished, there could be no more apostles ; that from the 
very nature of the office, they could have had no official 
successors ; that the persons appointed by the Apostles to 
fill their places, as far as they could be filled, were the first 
christian pastors, evangelists and teachers, and that the 
churches once organized, then by the instructions of the 
Apostles, each church did for itself, and others, what in the 
beginning the Apostles must necessarily do for them ; and 
that when the original twelve passed away, there were no 
more apostles ; not only because the thing was impossible 
in itself, but because there could be no further use for the 
office. They concluded, therefore, that this whole proceed- 
ing was entirely unauthorized by the word of God, and 
were, consequently, not prepared to receive the apostolic 
services of their lately appointed brethren. These, and 
like considerations, were the more effective, because none 
of those brethren whose great personal influence, and extra- 



56 EARLY BAPTISTS 

ordinary eloquence, had carried the measure, and who pro- 
bably were themselves ambitious of the distinction, were 
chosen. They, therefore, retired from the discussion, and 
left the public mind to the full force of these counter 
arguments. Nor were the apostles themselves very confi- 
dent that their office was now fully justified by the divine 
word. Naked episcopacy was, for reasons sufficiently 
apparent, especially unpopular. On this account, no doubt, 
it had been advocated, and carried among the Baptists, 
under the name of apostleship. This fact now became 
known, and had, doubtless, its effect upon the public 
mind. Under these circumstances the General Association 
assembled the next year. The apostles reported in despond- 
ing terms, and ceased to act in that capacity. The whole 
plan fell into a state of dissuetude. Without any rescind- 
ing action, or other adverse movement, the episcopacy, as 
if by common consent, was tacitly abandoned. At a subse- 
quent session the subject was called up, and after consid- 
eration, it was decided, and entered on record, " That the 
office of apostles, like that of prophets, was the effect of 
miraculous inspiration, and does not belong to ordinary 
times." In this decision there was a unanimous concur- 
rence, and we hear no more of the episcopacy of the early 
Baptists of Virginia.* 

These two, we have seen, were the only subjects of any 
importance in which our Virginia fathers were engaged 
in controversy among themselves. Upon both they at 
length harmonised perfectly. Regular, and Separate 
Baptists, as such, were known no more. All were 
United Baptists. Apostleship as an office in our churches, 
ceased to be remembered, except as a vagary into which 
they had at one period, for a short time, strangely, most 
unaccountably fallen. To bring to pass these results several 

* Semple's Hist,, p. 59. 



i 



IN VIRGINIA. 57 

powerful causes were in operation, to some of which we 
may barely allude. 

The first cause, beyond the peculiar favor and blessing of 
God, of the perfect union at which all our fathers arrived, 
and I name it first, because it is the most important of 
them all, was the ardent christian feeling by which, as a 
whole, they were always actuated. They were almost per- 
petually in a state of revival. Brotherly love burned in 
their hearts. No jealousies, or antagonism, existed among 
them. " Each esteemed other better than himself." They 
sought only the triumph of truth, the glory of God, and the 
salvation of men. It was not difficult, therefore, for them 
to harmonize on any subject connected with the religion of 
Christ. 

Another cause was the indiscriminate persecutions waged 
against them by the state church. They all suffered to- 
gether, and as Baptists. "Whether General, or Particular, 
or as the same parties came to be called here, Separate or 
B-egular Baptists, or whether the advocates, or the oppo- 
nents of the episcopacy, which they chose to denominate 
apostleship, made no difference. They found themselves 
together before the courts, in the jails, and in the hands of 
the officers of the law. As fellow sufferers for Christ, they 
became personally, strongly endeared to each other. To 
these facts you will have observed constant references were 
made in their negotiations. They prompted that affecting 
remark contained in one of their official communications, 
before noticed, in which one party says to the other, in 
answer to an earnest overture for union, " Your christian 
fellowship seems nearly as dear to us as our lives."* Noth- 
ing is more natural than that such men under such circum- 
stances, whatever their original differences, should arrive 
at a harmony as complete as any of which human beings 
are capable. 

* Semple's Hist., p. 61. 



58 EARLY BAPTISTS 

Another, and the last cause which I shall mention, of 
the happy termination of their controversies, was the neces- 
sity of concentrating all their strength to resist successfully, 
the injuries sought to be inflicted upon them by their 
common persecutors, and to gain the ends they proposed, 
with respect to the government of the state, of which I 
shall presently more fully speak. "What in these respects 
could they hope to accomplish if divided, and in conflict 
among themselves 1 They spurned such petty warfare, and 
generously united their forces, sacrificing however, no prin- 
ciple, for none was really involved, and became one harmo- 
nious and gallant army, opposing to their adversaries an 
unbroken front. The close of the last century saw all the 
Baptists of Virginia in harmony, prosperity and happiness. 

VI. We now proceed to consider the influence of the 
Baptists in the formation of the government of the state. 

" The share which the Baptists took in shoring up the 
fallen liberties of England, and in infusing new vigor, and 
liberality into the constitution of that country," says Dr. 
Williams, speaking of the times of Cromwell, and the events 
of that period, "is not generally acknowledged. It is 
scarcely even known. The dominant party in the church 
and in the state, at the restoration, became the historians. 
And when the man, and not the lion, was the painter, it 
was easy to foretell with what party all the virtues, all the 
talents, and all the triumphs would be found. When our 
principles shall have won their way to a more general 
acceptance, the share of the Baptists in the achievements 
of that day will be disinterred, like many other forgotten 
truths, from the ruins of history. Then it will, we believe, 
be found that while dross, such as has alloyed the purest 
churches in the best ages, may have existed in our denomi- 
nation, yet the body was composed of pure and scriptural 
christians, who contended manfully, with some bitter suffer- 



IN VIRGINIA. 59 

ings, for the rights of conscience, and the truth as it is in 
Jesus ; that to them English liberty owes a debt it can 
never acknowledge • and that amongst them christian free- 
dom found its earliest, and some of its staunchest, its most 
consistent, and its most disinterested champions."* These 
statements are eminently applicable to Virginia. The 
Baptists in this colony were distinguished for their patriot- 
ism. They were ever ready to " Give unto Caesar the 
things that are Caesar's." But they had suffered too much 
not to be equally ready to resist Caesar, when he attempted 
to usurp " the things that are God's." An opportunity 
now occurred in which there was a probability that their 
political doctrines might be incorporated into the civil 
government. Manfully did they essay the achievement, 
and most glorious was their success. With the assistance 
of some portions, and on some points, of the Presbyterian 
church, they overthrew the state establishment, not as a 
church, for this they did not desire to do, but as an engine 
of the government ; they severed Episcopacy from the civil 
power, and left it, and its ministry, to stand upon their own 
merits ; they resisted successfully, the incorporation of any 
denomination of Christians as such, and they defeated all 
those measures by which it was sought to tax the people 
for the support of the ministers of religion, in connection 
with any of the Churches of the Colony ; and severing the 
unholy union between Church and State, they gave to the 
commonwealth, full religious liberty. These, I am aware, 
are bold declarations. By many, they may be deemed 
wholly untenable. Indulge me, therefore, gentlemen, while 
I justify them all, by a brief statement of the facts in the 
case. 

The Early Baptists of Virginia, did not form their pur- 
poses with relation to the government, carelessly, nor 
hastily. They were the result of mature thought, protracted 

* Benedict's History of the Baptists, edition 1843, p. 322. 



60 EARLY BAPTISTS 

consultation, and most earnest prayer. Nor were their 
measures sudden, or rash. They spumed rebellion, and all 
revolutionary, or violent action. They did not contemplate 
for themselves, honor, or place, or power. Their appeal was 
to the legally constituted authorities, and they asked only 
for their just rights as men, as citizens, and as christians. 
These they never abandoned, but sought with resistless 
energy and perseverance. I speak not now of the separate 
individual action of the citizens, many thousands of whom, 
in every department of society, civil and military, were com- 
municants in our churches. These all, since at that time, 
every man was a politician, exerted each in his sphere, a 
direct influence over the governing power. I confine my- 
self to a statement of their organised and systematic action 
as a denomination. To those who have any competent 
knowledge of the history of the times, it is well known that 
the General Association of Virginia, afterwards the General 
Committee, and finally, the General Meeting of Corres- 
pondence, entered fully into all the political questions of 
the times, especially those having any direct bearing upon 
their civil, or religious liberty. They were regularly brought 
before them, carefully considered, freely discussed, and 
their decisions recorded. These bodies, as we shall see, 
spread themselves over the whole formative period of the 
government, during all which time, they had by annual 
appointment, as circumstances seemed to demand, from one 
to five commissioners, in attendance upon the meetings of 
the Convention, and upon every session of the State Legis- 
lature. Of their proceedings, our limits will permit us to 
present but very brief sketches. 

The General Association of Virginia, of that period, was 
an organization altogether different from that of the present 
day. On this subject, however, you, gentlemen, need no 
special information beyond what has already been given in 
our general and incidental references to the subject. During 



IN VIRGINIA. 61 

the first three years of its existence, the only references to 
the political condition of the country, contained in the im- 
perfect records of their proceedings that remain, had regard 
to the violent persecutions then waged against Baptists by 
the Colonial Government. Measures were taken to assist 
their imprisoned and suffering brethren ; days of fasting 
and prayer were appointed, and devoutly observed ; and spe- 
cial supplications were solicited and constantly offered in 
behalf of their "poor blind persecutors," and, that God 
would graciously grant his people " a happy issue out of all 
their troubles." Meantime the controversy of the Colonies 
with the mother country, which had so long been pending, 
became deeper, and more intense. Virginia was now heav- 
ing like a volcano, whose pent up fires, it was evident, could 
not much longer be restrained. 

Under these circumstances, the General Association met 
at the Dover Church, in Manokin Town, the fourth Satur- 
day in May, 1775. Sixty churches were present by their 
messengers. Their interview was characterized by long, 
and earnest consultations, as to the measures proper for 
them to adopt. Such men were present as Harris, Metcalf, 
Lovell, Hargitt, Maneese, Chastaine, Johnston, Walker, 
Ellington, Williams, Childs, Thompson, Trebble, "Waller, 
Burruss, Ford, Webber, the Craigs, Bledsoe, Card, Twy- 
man, Bennett, Eve, Munroe, Peyton, Holtsclaugh, With- 
ers, Marshall and Pickett. They determined to address the 
State Convention soon to be assembled, to consider the con- 
dition of the country generally, and of Virginia particularly. 
They decided that the memorial should be carefully pre- 
pared, and to give time for this purpose, they adjourned for 
three months, and met again with the Church at Du Puy's, 
in Cumberland, nowPowhattan county, on the second Satur- 
day in August of that year. These sessions, as subsequent 
events have shown, were among the most important ever 
held by any Christian people, since the days of the Apostles. 



62 EARLY BAPTISTS 

In reference to them, Dr. Semple remarks : " The discon- 
tents in America, arising from British oppression, were 
drawing to a crisis." " This was a very favorable season for 
the Baptists. Having been much ground under British 
laws." " They were to a man, favorable to any revolution 
by which they could obtain freedom of religion."* 

The memorial was presented, considered, and adopted. 
It contemplated two objects ; the freedom of the Colony 
from British rule, and the freedom of religion among the 
people of the Colony. The former of these objects is thus 
noticed in the Journals of the Convention. " An address 
from the Baptists of this Colony was presented to the Con- 
vention and read, setting forth that, however distinguished 
from their countrymen by appellations and sentiments of a 
religious nature, they nevertheless consider themselves as 
members of the same community, in respect to matters of a 
civil nature, and embarked in the same common cause ; that 
alarmed at the oppression which hangs over America, they 
had considered what part it would be proper for them to 
take in the unhappy contest, and had determined that in 
some cases, it is lawful to go to war ; and, that we ought to 
maize a military resistance to Great Britain, in her unjust in- 
vasion, tyrannical oppression, and repeated hostilities ;f that 
their brethren had liberty at discretion, to enlist, without 
incurring the censure of their religious community ; and 
under the circumstances many had enlisted as soldiers, and 
that many more were ready to join the army;" that their 
ministers would encourage their young men to enter the 
service of their country, and desired for themselves, permis- 
sion to serve the army in the capacity of Chaplains. J This 
was the Convention which instructed our delegates in Con- 
gress, to declare independence, an act upon which Virginia 

* History of Virginia Baptists, p. 62. 

f It will be remembered that Lord Dunmore was then desolating the coast 
of Virginia. X Journals, p. 17. 



IN VIRGINIA. 63 

patriotism has always so much prided itself. To what extent 
that body was moved by the Baptists, to give this instruc- 
tion, I leave to be decided by every man for himself. If that 
action was honorable to the Convention, it was still more 
honorable to the Baptists, who were prior to them in the 
movement, and who boldly urged it as a duty upon their 
attention. 

The second object contemplated in this address was 
" Religious freedom " for the people. To this end they drew 
up, and embodied in their memorial, a formal "Decla- 
ration of principles in relation to civil government ; the most 
striking features of which were as follows : — " We hold that 
the mere toleration of religion by the civil government, is 
not sufficient; that no State religious establishment ought 
to exist ; that all religious denominations ought to stand 
upon the same footing ; and, that to all alike the protection 
of the government should be extended, securing to them 
the peaceable enjoyment of their own religious principles 
and modes of worship.* 

Not to speak further of the patriotic movements of our 
Fathers, with regard to the freedom of the country from 
political vassalage, let us consider what they proposed for 
the cause of Christ. They sought, 

1. That religion should be free absolutely, in its doctrine, 
and ordinances, from any restraint whatever, exercised by 
the civil power. 

2. That the State religious establishment should be dis- 
continued, and as such, exist no more. 

3. That no favor should be shown by the State to one 
religious denomination more than to another. 

4. That all should receive alike, the protection of the 
civil government. 

Their reasons for these principles, they presented in a 
subsequent paper, to the Legislature. In that paper they 
* Semple's History of Virginia Baptists, p. 62. 



64 EARLY BAPTISTS 

said : — " We hold it for a fundamental and unalienable truth, 
that the religion of every man must be left to the convic- 
tion and conscience of every man ; and it is the right of 
every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right 
is, in its nature, an inalienable right. It is inalienable, 
because what is here a right towards man, is a duty towards 
the Creator. It is the duty of every man to render to the 
Creator, such homage, and such only, as he believes to be 
acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of 
time and degree of obligation, to the claims of civil society 7 . 
Before any man can be considered as a member of civil 
society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor 
of the Universe. And if a member of civil society, who 
enters into any subordinate association, must always do it 
with a reservation of his duty to the general authority, 
much more must every man who becomes a member of any 
particular civil society, do it with a saving of his allegiance 
to the Universal Sovereign. We maintain, therefore, that 
in matters of religion, no man's right is abridged by the 
institution of civil society; and that religion is wholly 
exempt from its cognizance." " If religion be exempt from 
the authority of the society at large, still less can it be sub- 
ject to that of the legislative body. The latter are but the 
creatures, and vice-gerents of the former. Their jurisdic- 
tion is both derivative, and limited. [It is derived from 
the will of the people they represent.] It is limited [by the 
extent of the authority conferred. It is limited] with re- 
gard to the co-ordinate departments. More necessarily it is 
limited with regard to the constituents. The [creation, and] 
preservation of a free government requires, not merely that 
the metes, and bounds, which separate each department of 
power, be invariably maintained, but more especially that 
neither of them be suffered to overleap the great barrier 
which defends the rights of the people. The rulers who 
are guilty of such an encroachment, exceed the commission 






IN VIRGINIA. 65 

from which they derive their authority, and are tyrants. 
The people who submit to it, are governed by laws made 
neither by themselves, nor by any authority derived from 
them, and are slaves." " If ' all men are by nature, equally 
free, and independent,'* all men are to be considered as 
entering into society on equal conditions ; as relinquishing 
no more, and therefore retaining no less, one than another, 
of their natural rights ; above all are they to be considered 
as retaining an equal title to the free exercise of religion, 
according to the dictates of conscience. Whilst we assert 
for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe 
the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we 
cannot deny an equal freedom to those whose minds have 
not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If 
this freedom be abused, it is an offence against God, not 
against man. To God, therefore, and not to man, must an 
account be rendered." An established religion "implies 
either that the civil magistrate is a competent judge of 
religious truths, or that he may employ religion as an en- 
gine of civil polity. The first is an arrogant pretension, 
falsified by the extravagant opinions of rulers in all ages, 
and throughout the world ; the second, an unhallowed per- 
version of the means of salvation.f 

These principles, were at that time, and had been for a 
thousand years, as all who have read history must know, 
denounced by all other denominations, as the rankest 
heresy, both religious and political. None in the Old 
World but Baptists, had ever ventured to avow them, and 
there they paid with their lives for their presumptuous 
daring. In the New World, no where but in Baptist Rhode 
Island, had they been adopted. Boldly did our brethren 
assume their grounds, and ably did they maintain them. 
Our brethren of other churches, anxious as they now are to 
share in the honors of these measures, were then, whatever 

* Declaration of Rights, Article 1. f Semple, p. 433. et. seq. 



66 EARLY BAPTISTS 

might have been their private thoughts, especially prudent. 
The Presbyterians were at that time, a small but influential 
denomination in Virginia. As early as 1740, they began 
their settlements. And their churches were composed 
mostly of Scotch and Irish people, and their descendants. 
They were located at first, mostly " among the hills, and on 
the western side of the Blue Ridge." At this time, how- 
ever, they were found in nearly all the counties of the 
Colony. The Hanover Presbytery, which had its name 
from that of the county in which their most distinguished 
minister, Mr. Davies, resided, had for two years previously, 
petitioned the Colonial Legislature ; but their addresses 
were indefinite, having regard mainly, to their desire to be 
delivered from Episcopal predominance and rule. The con- 
flict then commencing with Great Britain, was to their 
mind of dubious result. They unhappily appeared at least, 
unwilling to assume a position, from which, should we fail 
to achieve our liberties, they might not be able readily to 
recede. For these, then startling doctrines, declarations, 
purposes, all, whether they involved honor or dishonor, 
deliverance or chains, life or death, the Baptists, and the 
Baptists alone, were then held by others, and held themselves 
responsible. 

Their memorial setting forth these principles, manifest- 
ing their justice, and urging their adoption, was placed in 
the hands of Rev. Messrs Jeremiah Walker, John Williams, 
and George Roberts, who were appointed to attend the 
meeting of the Convention, remain at the Capitol, mingle, 
and converse with the members, and to employ every honor- 
able means to procure the ends proposed. And most faith- 
fully did these gentlemen perform the duty assigned them. 
With three leading members of the Convention they formed 
an immediate acquaintance, all of whom, except the last, 
entered fully into their spirit. This acquaintance, which 
led the gentlemen in question to co-operate with our 



IX V I R G I N I A. 67 

churches, and people, resulted in the happiest consequences. 
To the end they stood by our fathers in every measure they 
brought forward. They were Thomas Jefferson, James 
Madison, and Patrick Henry. Under these auspices, their 
memorial was presented to the Convention. The ceremo- 
nial was imposing, and the reading produced a most extra- 
ordinary, and instant effect. An impression was made 
which could not be effaced. On the contrary, it continued 
to deepen, and to expand itself, more and more, until in 
every sense Virginia was free. That I do not too highly 
color this picture, may be clearly seen by the testimony of 
even our warmest opponents themselves. Referring to the 
memorial, and its consequences, the Annalist, for example, 
of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, says : — " The storm 
which had so long been gathering, burst upon America, and 
the first blood was spilled at Lexington. Every colony was 
speedily on the alert, and a voluntary convention of the 
delegates to the Virginia Legislature, meeting after its ad- 
journment, succeeded the last Royal Assembly that was 
ever held in the Ancient Dominion. " The Baptists," he 
adds, " were not slow in discovering the advantageous posi- 
tion in which the political troubles of the country had 
placed them. Their numerical strength was such as to 
make it important to both sides, to secure their influence ; 
they knew this, and therefore determined to turn the cir- 
cumstances to their profit as a sect. Persecution had taught 
them not to love the establishment, and they now saw be- 
fore them, a reasonable prospect of overturning it entirely. 
In their Association they had calmly discussed the 
matter, and resolved on their course ; in this course they 
were consistent to the end.' 5 " Xow," he continues, " com- 
menced the assault. Inspired with the ardors of a patriot- 
ism which accorded with their interest ; or willing to avail 
themselves of a favorable opportunity to present in their 



68 EARLY BAPTISTS 

case an advantageous contrast to a part of the Church,* 
they addressed the Convention, and informed that body 
that their religious tenets presented no obstacle to their 
taking up arms and lighting for the country ; and they ten- 
dered the services of their pastors, in promoting the enlist- 
ment of the youth of their religious persuasion. They 
presented also to the Convention a petition, in which they 
made the certainly reasonable request, that they might be 
allowed to worship God in their own way, without inter- 
ruption ; that they might be permitted to maintain [thus 
slightingly he speaks of Baptist grievances, and appeals] 
their own ministers separate from others ; that they might 
be married, and buried, and the like, without paying the 
clergy of other denominations." He closes by stating, and 
to this I invite your particular attention, " A complimen- 
tary answer was returned to their [the Baptists'] address, 
[by the Convention]^ and an order was made that the sec- 
tarian clergy should have the privilege of performing divine 
service to their respective adherents in the army, equally 
with the regular chaplains of the established church. This 
it is believed, was the first step made towards placing the 
clergy of all denominations, upon an equal footing in Vir- 
ginia. "$ 

The same declaration of principle, was upon various occa- 
sions afterwards, repeated by our fathers, and sometimes, as 
we have seen, in a form still more full and elaborate, and 
urged upon the attention of the legislative authorities. 
"The Declaration of Eights," and "the Constitution" 
proper, adopted the former, June the 12th, and the latter, 
June the 29th, 1776, embraced the Baptist doctrines in their 
whole extent. The article on this subject, is as follows : — 

* He refers tothetoryism and persecutions, which characterized the Episcopal 
Church in Virginia. 

f Cannot this address be obtained and published ? 

X History Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, pp. 137, 138. 



IN VIRGINIA. 69 

w Keligion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and 
the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason 
and conviction, not by force or violence ; and, therefore, all 
men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, ac- 
cording to the dictates of conscience ; and it is the mutual 
duty of all, to practice Christian forbearance, love, and cha- 
rity, towards each other."* This was the first victory 
achieved by " The Early Baptists of Virginia." It was a 
most glorious triumph ; such a one as almost certainly to 
secure success in every subsequent conflict. Tlxey had 
placed a summary of their principles at the very foundation of 
the Government of Virginia. 

The records of the General Association for 1776, have 
been unfortunately lost. We are, however, not without 
ample information of its proceedings, gathered from the 
Journals of the Legislature for that year, and from the cur- 
rent history of the times. From these we learn, that our 
brethren followed up >with characteristic energy, the measures 
which previously they had prosecuted with so much success. 
Their example of the previous year, had in one respect 
especially, been contagious. " The Legislature which was 
convened in October, was addressed," says Dr. Hawks, by 
" numerous petitions from all parts of the State, entreating 
for all religious sects, protection in the full exercise of their 
several modes of worship, and exemption from the payment 
of all taxes for the support of any church whatever, further 
than what might be agreeable to their own private choice 
or voluntary obligation. "f Prominent among these peti- 
tioners, was the Hanover Presbytery, previously alluded to. 
This body was led by Patrick Henry, who lived in Hanover 
county, and whose political sentiments exercised over its 
ministers and members, an unlimited influence. Of these 
Presbyterian petitions, Dr. Foote, the historian of that 

* Declaration of Rights, Article 16. 

f History Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, p. 139. 



70 EARLY BAPTISTS 

church in Virginia, says : — " They were for an ill-defined 
liberty of conscience, and the disseverance of religion 
from the civil power. That something ought to be done 
for dissenters was evident, but what should actually be 
done, was matter of contention."* Our brethren of that 
church, seem to have been somewhat slow in acquiring just 
ideas of " Eeligious Freedom." Nor is this surprising, when 
we consider their antecedents at Geneva, and in Scotland, 
to which I have already had occasion to refer. This was 
greatly to be regretted. But no such indefiniteness as that 
which characterized their proceedings, perplexed the minds 
of the Baptists. If Presbyterians were unwilling to be taxed 
by the State, "for the support of any church whatever, fur- 
ther than what might be agreeable to their own private choice ;" 
Baptists refused to be taxed by the State, even for the sup- 
port of their own church. They chose to support their own 
church, in their own way, and denied that the State had 
any right to interfere, or even to inquire into any such matters. 
"Counter memorials," says Dr. Hawks, " on the part of the 
Church, [Episcopal,] and the Methodists, solicited the continu- 
ance of the establishment" They claimed this " upon prin- 
ciples of justice, of wisdom, and of policy r ."t They prayed 
" That the efforts made to injure what was left of the esta- 
blishment might be checked.''^ The Baptists still main- 
tained " That no established religion ought to exist," and 
accordingly, a bill was brought forward to " B-epeal the law 
establishing the Episcopal Church." In the passage of this 
bill, our fathers achieved another triumph. The principal 
parts of the law, are as follows : — " Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and 
it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that all 
and every act of Parliament, by whatever title known, or 
distinguished, which renders criminal the maintaining any 

* Sketches of Virginia, p. 323. 

f History, &c., p. 142. ' % Id. UT. 



IN VIRGINIA. 71 

opinions in matters of religion, forbearing to repair [go] 
to church, or the exercising any mode of worship whatso- 
ever, or which prescribes punishments for the same, shall 
henceforth be of no validity, or force, within this Common- 
wealth." And "that all dissenters of whatever denomina- 
tion from the said church [established by law] shall, from 
and after the passing of this Act, be totally free, and 
exempt from all levies, taxes, and impositions whatever, 
towards supporting and maintaining the said Church."* 
This result, which fell so far short of what was proposed, was 
not gained without a most arduous and protracted struggle. 
In regard to it, Mr. Jefferson himself, says : — " The first 
Republican Legislature, which met in 1176, was crowded 
with petitions to abolish this spiritual tyranny [the esta- 
blished church.] These brought on the severest contest in 
which I have ever been engaged." "The petitions were 
referred to a committee of the whole house, on the state of 
the country ; and after desperate contests in that committee, 
almost daily, from the 11th of October to the 5th of De- 
cember, we prevailed so far only, as to repeal the laws 
which rendered criminal the maintenance of any religious 
opinions, [other than those of Episcopalians,] the forbear- 
ance of repairing to church, or the exercise of any [other 
than Episcopal] mode of worship ; and to suspend only until 
the next session, levies on the members of that Church for 
the salaries of their own incumbents." "But our opponents 
carried in the general resolutions of November the 19th, a 
declaration, that religious assemblies ought to be regulated, 
and that provision ought to be made for continuing the 
succession of the clergy and superintending their conduct, "f 
On the assembling of the General Association, in 1777, 
a committee was appointed to examine the laws of the 
Commonwealth, and to report to them at as early a period 

* Herring's Stat, at large, vol. ix., p. 164. 
t Jefferson's Works, vol. i. pp. 32, 33. 



72 EAELYBAPTISTS 

as possible, such as were justly considered offensive. Their 
professed object was the removal of all such laws from the 
Statute Book, and the introduction of others which should 
firmly establish and maintain " Religious Liberty," in all 
its extent and bearings. That this end, difficult as it ap- 
peared to many, might be accomplished, their former suc- 
cesses had now inspired them with the most confident 
hopes. The committee performed the duty assigned them 
with great ability, and reported elaborately. Numerous 
laws were designated, and an address to the legislature was 
prepared, manifesting the injustice and impolicy of retain- 
ing them, all of which was effectually brought to the notice 
of that body. This session also was "flooded with peti- 
tions." The Baptists, with the masses of the people, 
seconded to a great extent by the Presbyterians, were the 
memorialists on the one side, and on the other the Episco- 
palians, and Methodists. Nothing, however, of importance 
occurred in relation to religion, unless the suspension of 
the taxes for the support of religious teachers for the year, 
may be so regarded, 

During the meeting of the Association, in 1778, a com- 
mittee of seven was appointed for the consideration of 
" Civil Grievances ;" which, after mature deliberation, 
reported as such, among others, the project of a law then 
beginning to be advocated, for the support by the State of 
the religious teachers of all the leading denominations, thus 
placing them all on an equal footing in this respect ; and 
also the law which confined the legal celebration of mar- 
riage to clergymen of the Episcopal church. As commis- 
sioners, to bear their address to the General Assembly, and 
to attend its sittings, they appointed Rev. Messrs. Jeremiah 
Walker, Elijah Craig, and John Williams. The exigen- 
cies of the country, however, were such, now in the midst 
of the war, that nothing of consequence in the cause of 
religious freedom was accomplished. 



IN VIRGINIA. 73 

When the Association assembled, in 1779, Mr. Walker, 
after having reported the proceedings of their delegates at 
the capitol, which were cordially approved, submitted the 
form of a law, which had been carefully prepared, in consul- 
tation with their commissioners, during the last session of the 
legislature, and the adoption of which it was proposed to 
obtain at the earliest day possible, entitled, " An Act for 
the Establishment of Eeligious Freedom." This paper was 
read, and after full deliberation it was Resolved, unanimously, 
That the [proposed] bill, establishing Religious Liberty, in 
our opinion puts that subject upon its proper basis ; pre- 
scribes the just limits of the powers of the state with regard 
to religion, and properly guards against partiality towards 
any religious denomination; that therefore we heartily ap- 
prove the same, and wish it to pass into a law. It was also 
" Ordered, That this, our approbation of said bill, be trans- 
mitted to the public printers, to be inserted in the Gazette." 
The usual memorial, and delegates, were sent to the Gene- 
ral Assembly, where still another triumph awaited their 
faithful services. It was the adoption of a law entitled, 
" An Act to repeal so much of the act for the support of 
the clergy, and for the regular collecting and paying the 
parish levies, as relates to the payment of the salaries here- 
tofore given to the clergy of the Church of England," the 
principal parts of which are as follows : — " Be it enacted by 
the General Assembly, that so much of the act entitled an 
Act for the support of the clergy, and for the regular col- 
lecting, and paying of the parish levies ; and of all and 
every other act, providing salaries for the ministers, and 
authorising the vestries to levy the same ; shall be and the 
same are hereby repealed."* This was a bold and decisive 
blow. Dr. Hawks, in a strain of lamentation over the 
catastrophe, says : — " In each successive meeting of the 
legislature, from 1776 to 1779, this questio vexata was 
* Herring's Stat, at Large, Yol. x., p. 197. 



74 EARLY BAPTISTS 

brought up for discussion, and the friends of voluntary con- 
tribution, apprehensive, probably, of a final vote against 
them, labored, and not without success, to suspend the de- 
cision from time to time, and leave the matter to be debated 
anew in the succeeding year. In 1779, all things being 
now ready for a final vote, the question was settled," " and 
the establishment was finally put down. The Baptists [he 
adds] were the principal promoters of this work, and in 
truth, aided more than any other denomination in its accom- 
plishment." " In the Associations of that sect, held from 
year to year, a prominent subject of discussion always was 
as to the best mode of carrying on the war against the 
former establishment. After their final success in this matter" 
" their next efforts were to procure the sale of the church 
property."* 

The records that remain of the General Association for 
1780, are exceedingly meagre.f From contemporaneous 
history we however ascertain, that the Baptists were still 
moving with their accustomed vigor, and influence. In 
the legislature of this session, one more important victory 
was gained, Hitherto no person could celebrate legally 
the rites of matrimony, but a clergyman of the Episcopal 
Church, and according to the forms prescribed in the 
English Liturgy. Against this law our people had been 
for five years annually petitioning. An act was passed in 
October of this year, " declaring what shall be a lawful 
marriage," which provided " That it shall be lawful for 
any minister, of any society, or congregation of Christians," 
" to join together as man and wife, those who may apply to 
them, agreeable to the rules and usages of the respective 
societies to which the parties to be married respectively 
belong.''^ This law was, however, clogged with various 

* Hist. Prot. Epis. Ch. in Va, pp. 152, 153. 

f I am astonished that so many of the papers of this body, and also of the 
General Committee, have been lost. 

% Hening's Stat., at Large, Yol. X., pp. 361. 



IK VIRGINIA. 75 

"provisoes " and it was not until 1784, that these were re- 
moved, and the ministers of all denominations placed, as to 
their authority in the premises, upon a perfectly equal footing. 

The session of the General Association of 1781, was 
prevented, by the passage through the country at the time 
when it should have been held, of the British troops under 
Lord Cornwallis. The messengers from sixteen churches 
assembled, and after appointing the time and place of the 
next annual meeting adjourned. At the session of 1782, 
and also of 1783, the remaining laws of the State, regarded 
by them as unequal, and oppressive, especially the glebe- 
laws, and the scheme now somewhat popular, to assess taxes 
upon the people, to support the ministers of the several 
denominations, were the theme of their remonstrances, and 
their earnest petitions were sent up for the passage of the 
bill " Declaring Religous Freedom." To bear these memo- 
rials to the Legislature, and superintend them before that 
body, Jeremiah Walker was appointed by the former ses- 
sion, and by the latter, were designated Reuben Ford and 
John Waller. The extraordinary state of the country, 
however, prevented, on the part of the General Assembly, 
any very important action in relation to these subjects. 

The General Association had now become an immense 
body. Its members were scattered over a large extent of 
territory. The distance they had to travel rendered their 
annual gatherings at one place extremely laborious and 
expensive. "They would, probably," says Dr. Semple, 
" long before this date, have been divided into districts, had 
they not been holden together by apprehensions of oppres- 
sion from the civil government. They could not make 
head against their powerful and numerous opponents, with 
any hope of success, unless they were united among them- 
selves. In order to be all of one mind, it was necessary 
they should all assemble around one council board. For 
these reasons the General Association was kept up as long as 



76 EARLY BAPTISTS 

it was. Finding it, however, wearisome to collect so many 
from such distant parts, and having already secured their 
most important civil rights, they determined to hold one 
more General Association, and then dividing into districts, 
to form some plan to keep a Standing Sentinel for political 
purposes."* That meeting was held in October, 1783, 
when memorials on the same subjects as the last two years, 
were sent to the Legislature, and the following resolution 
adopted : — 

"Resolved. That our General, or Annual Association 
cease, and that a General Committee be instituted, com- 
posed of not more than four delegates from each District 
Association, to meet annually, to consider matters that 
may be for the good of the whole Society, and that the 
present Association be divided into four Districts, Upper, 
and Lower Districts, on each side of James River, "f 

Thus was formed " the General Committee," composed 
of members annually elected by the several District Asso- 
ciations, and having charge of all those interests previously 
under the direction of the General Association. Its first 
meeting was held, commencing October 9th, 1784:. Memo- 
rials were prepared protesting against the "Vestry Law," 
and against the proposed laws " for a General Assessment," 
and for the " Incorporation of Religious Societies [that is, 
churches, or denominations,] which were now in agitation," 
and placed in the hands of Rev. Reuben Ford, who was 
appointed to lay them before the Legislature, and generally 
to represent the interests of the Baptists in that body. 

At the annual session of the General Committee, which 
commenced August 13th, 1785, "Mr. Ford reported, that 
according to the directions given him, he presented their 
memorial and petition to the Honorable the General 
Assembly; that certain amendments were made to the 
' marriage law [before referred to] which rendered it satis- 
* Hist. Ya. Baptists, p. 67. t Hist. Va. Baptist p. 08. 



IN VIRGINIA. 77 

factory;' and that the anticipated bill for a * General 
Assessment,' had been introduced, and would have passed 
into a law, but that 'when at that stage in which it was 
called an engrossed bill,' our friends had succeeded in a 
motion, that the people might be more fully consulted, to 
refer it to the next Assembly." 

Great excitement now prevailed among " the Early 
Baptists of Virginia." Four measures of the utmost im- 
portance were pending; the Assessment hill; the bill for the 
Incorporation of Churches, (denominations ;) the law for the 
Declaration of Religious Freedom; and for the repeal of the 
Vestry and Glebe laws. In view of the whole subject the 
General Committee now made a Declaration of Principles, 
as the General Association had before done, with reference 
to civil government, the heads of which are as follows : — 
" It is believed to be repugnant to the spirit of the gospel, 
for the Legislature to proceed thus, in matters of religion; 
that no human laws ought to be established for this pur- 
pose, [its support and regulation,] but that every person 
ought to be left entirely free in respect to matters of reli- 
gion; that the holy Author of our religion needs no such 
compulsory measures for the promotion of his cause; that 
the gospel wants not the feeble arm of man for its support ; 
that it has made, and will again through Divine power, 
make its way against all opposition; and that should the 
Legislature assume the right of taxing the people for the 
support of the gospel, it will be destructive to religious 
liberty."* Their memorial was prepared, signed, not only 
officially, but by thousands of the people, and placed in the 
hands of Rev. Reuben Ford, who was appointed to repre- 
sent them at the Capitol. 

A great and decisive battle was now to be fought, and it 
is proper for us to pause, survey the field, and ascertain the 
positions, and objects of the various parties. The Episco- 

* Semple's Hist. Ya. Baptist, p. 71. 



ib EARLY BAPTISTS 

palians, and Methodists, always allies, and always the 
enemies of Religious Freedom, sent up their petitions to 
the Legislature, in favor of assessments upon the people, 
for the support of ministers ; in favor of incorporating the 
several religious denominations, or churches ; in favor of 
retaining in full force, the old vestry, and glebe laws ; and 
against the law " Declaring Religious Freedom." Presby- 
terians petitioned against such incorporations as included 
only ministers, (the form of the proposed bill,) but favored 
those which included also the people of their churches, and 
were advocates of such an assessment, as they themselves 
proposed. They speak as follows : — " We have understood 
that a comprehensive incorporating act has been, and is at 
present in agitation, whereby ministers of the Gospel as 
such, of certain descriptions, shall have legal advantages, 
which are not proposed to be extended to the people at 
large, of any denomination. A proposition has been made 
by some gentlemen in the House of Delegates, we are told, 
to extend the grace to us, among others, in our professional 
capacity. If this be so, we are bound to acknowledge, with 
gratitude, our obligations to such gentlemen, for their in- 
clination to favor us with the sanction of public authority 
in the discharge of our duty. But as the scheme of incorpo- 
rating clergymen, independent of the religious communities to 
which they belong, is inconsistent with our ideas of propriety, 
we request the liberty of declining any such solitary honor, 
should it be again proposed. To form clergymen into a 
distinct order in the community, and especially where it 
would be possible for them to have the principal direction 
of a considerable public estate by such incorporation, has a 
tendency to render them independent at length, of the 
churches whose ministers they are ; and this has been too 
often found by experience, to produce ignorance, immo- 
rality, and neglect of the duties of their station." After 
stating various general considerations, they add: — u Itis 



IN VIRGINIA. 79 

upon this principle alone, [its moralizing power,] in our 
opinion, that a legislative body has a right to interfere in 
religion at all, and of consequence we suppose that this in- 
terference ought only to extend to the preserving of the 
public worship of the Deity, and the supporting of institu- 
tions for inculcating the great fundamental principles of 
religion, without which society could not easily exist. 
Should it be thought necessary at present, for the Assembly 
to exert this right of supporting religion in general, by an 
assessment on all the people, we would wish it to be done 
on the most liberal plan" "We therefore earnestly pray 
that nothing may be done in the case, inconsistent with the 
proper objects of human legislation, or the Declaration of 
Bights, as published at the Revolution. We hope that the 
assessment will not be proposed under the idea of supporting 
religion as a spiritual system, relating to the care of the 
soul, and preparing it for its future destiny. We hope that 
no attempt will be made [by the Legislature] to point out 
articles of faith, that are not essential to the preservation 
of society ; or to settle modes of worship ; or to interfere 
in the internal government of religious communities ; or to 
render the ministers of religion, independent of the will of the 
people whom they serve" They presented their own plan of 
assessment, as follows : — 1st. Religion as a spiritual system, 
is not to be considered as an object of human legislation, 
but may in a civil view, as preserving the existence, and 
promoting the happiness of society. 2nd. That public 
worship, and public periodical instruction to the people, be 
maintained in this view, by a general assessment for this 
purpose. 3rd. That every man, as a good citizen, be obliged 
to declare himself attached to some religious community, 
publicly known to profess the belief of one God, his 
righteous Providence, our accountableness to him, and a 
future state of rewards and punishments. 4th. That every 
citizen should have liberty annually to direct his assessed 



80 EARLY BAPTISTS 

proportion to such community as he chooses. 5th. That 
twelve titheables, or more, to the amount of a hundred and 
fifty families, as near as local circumstances will admit, shall 
be incorporated, and exclusively direct the application of the 
money contributed for their support."* On the other sub- 
jects before the Legislature, our Presbyterian brethren said 
nothing. On the subject of incorporations, and of assess- 
ments, as well as several others, the Baptists, therefore, stood 
alone. The principal part of their Memorial was as 
follows : — 

" We, the subscribers, citizens of the said Commonwealth, 
having taken into serious consideration, a bill, printed by 
order of the last session of the General Assembly, entitled, 
' A Bill Establishing a Provision, for Teachers of the 
Christian Religion,' and conceiving that the same if finally 
armed with the sanctions of a law, will be a dangerous 
abuse of power, are bound as faithful members of a free 
state, to remonstrate against it, and to declare the reasons 
by which we are determined." We remonstrate against 
the said bill : — f 

" Because freedom of religion is the inalienable right of 
every man; because religion cannot legally be the subject of 
legislation ; and because it is proper to take alarm at the first 
experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent j ealousy to 
be one of the noblest characteristics of the late revolution. 
The freemen of America did not wait until usurped power 
had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the ques- 
tion in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the 
principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the 
principle. We revere this lesson too much soon to forget 
it. Who does not see that the same authority which can 
establish Christianity in exclusion of all other religions, 
may establish with the same ease, any particular sect of 

* Memorial of Hanover Presbytery, 1784, in Foote's Sketches, pp. 336-333. 
t A part of this Memorial has already been quoted for another purpose. 



IN* VIRGINIA. 81 

Christians, in exclusion of all other sects \ That the same 
authority which can force a citizen to contribute three 
pence only of his property, for the support of any one esta- 
blishment, may force him to conform to any other establish- 
ment, in all cases whatsoever % 

" Because, the bill violates that equality which ought to 
be the basis of every law, and which is the more indispen- 
sable in proportion as the validity, or expediency of any 
law, is more liable to be impeached. As the bill violates 
equality by subjecting some to peculiar burdens, so it vio- 
lates the same principle by granting to others peculiar 
exemptions. 

" Because the establishment proposed by the bill, is not 
requisite for the support of the Christian religion. To say 
that it is, is a contradiction to the Christian religion itself; 
for every page of it, disavows a dependence on the power 
of this world. It is a contradiction to fact ; for it is known 
that this religion both existed, and flourished, not only 
without the support of human laws, but in spite of every 
opposition from them ; and not only during the period of 
miraculous aid, but long after it had been left to its own 
evidence, and the ordinary care of providence. Nay it is 
a contradiction in terms; for a religion not invented by 
human policy, must have pre-existed, and been supported, 
before it was established by human policy. It is, moreover, 
to weaken in those who profess this religion, a pious confi- 
dence in its innate excellence, and the patronage of its 
author; and to foster in those who reject it, a suspicion 
that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it 
to its own merits. 

" Because, experience witnesses that ecclesiastical esta- 
blishments, instead of maintaining the purity, and efficacy 
of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost 
fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity 

been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in 

6 



82 EARLY BAPTISTS 

all places, pride and indolence in the clergy ; ignorance 
and servility in the laity ; in both, superstition, bigotry and 
persecution. Enquire of the teachers of Christianity, for 
the ages in which it appeared in its greatest lustre. Those 
of every sect, point to the ages prior to its incorporation 
with civil policy. Propose a restoration to this primitive 
state, in which its teachers depended on the voluntary 
rewards of their flocks ; many of them predict its down- 
fall ! On which side ought their testimony to have greatest 
weight 1 When for, or when against their interest % 

" Because, the establishment in question, is not neces- 
sary for the support of civil government. If it be 
urged as necessary for the support of civil government, 
it is only as a means of supporting religion, and if it 
be not necessary for the latter purpose, it cannot be neces- 
sary for the former. If religion be not within the cogni- 
zance of civil government, how can its legal establish- 
ment be said to be necessary to civil government \ What 
influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had, 
on civil society'? In some instances they have been 
seen to erect a spiritual tyranny, on the ruins of the 
civil authority ; in more instances have they been seen 
upholding the thrones of political tyranny ; in no instance 
have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the 
people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, 
may have found an established clergy, convenient auxilia- 
ries. A just government, instituted to secure, and per- 
petuate it, needs them not. Such a government will be best 
supported by protecting every citizen in the enjoyment of 
his religion, with the same equal hand which protects his 
person, and his property ; by neither invading the equal 
rights of any sect, nor suffering any sect to invade those of 
another. 

" Because, the proposed establishment is a departure 
from that generous policy, which offering an asylum to 



IN VIRGINIA. 83 

the persecuted, and oppressed of every nation, and religion, 
promised a lustre to our country, and an accession to the 
number of its citizens. What a melancholy mark is the 
bill, of sudden degeneracy! Instead of holding forth an 
asylum to the persecuted, it is itself a signal of persecution. 
It degrades from the equal rank of citizens, all those whose 
opinions in religion, do not bend to those of the legislative 
authority. Distant as it may be, in its present form, from 
the inquisition, it differs from it only in degree. The one 
is the first step, the other is the last in the career of intole- 
rance. The magnanimous sufferer under the cruel scourge, 
in foreign regions, must view the bill as a beacon on our 
coast, warning him to seek some other haven, where liberty, 
and philanthropy, in their due extent, may offer a more 
certain repose from his troubles. 

" Because, it will have a like tendency to banish our 
citizens. The allurements presented by other situations 
are every day thinning our number. To superadd a fresh 
motive to emigration, by revoking the liberty which they 
now enjoy, would be the same species of folly which has 
dishonored and depopulated flourishing kingdoms. 

" Because, it will destroy that moderation and harmony, 
which the forbearance of our laws to intermeddle with 
religion, has produced among its several sects. Torrents 
of blood have been spilt, in the old world, by vain attempts 
of the secular arm to extinguish religious discord, by pro- 
scribing all differences of religious opinions. Time has at 
length revealed the true remedy. Every relaxation of nar- 
row, and rigorous policy, wherever it has been tried, has 
been found to assuage the disease. The American theatre 
has exhibited proofs that equal, and complete liberty, if it 
does not wholly eradicate it, sufficiently destroys its malig- 
nant influence on the health and prosperity of the State. 
If, with the salutary effects of this system under our own 
eyes, we begin to contract the bounds of religious freedom, 



Sdt EARLY BAPTISTS 

we know no name that will too severely reproach our folly. 
At least, let warning be taken at the first fruits of the 
threatened innovation. The very appearance of the bill 
has transformed that " Christian forbearance, love, and 
charity,"* which of late mutually prevailed, into animosi- 
ties and jealousies, which may not soon be appeased. 
What mischiefs may not be dreaded, should this enemy 
to the public quiet be armed with the force of a law 1 

" Because the policy of the bill is adverse to the diffu- 
sion of the light of Christianity. The first wish of those 
who enjoy this precious gift, ought to be, that it may be 
imparted to the whole race of mankind, Compare the 
number of those who have as yet received it, with the 
number still remaining under the dominion of false reli- 
gions, and how small is the former ! Does the policy of 
the bill tend to lessen the disproportion % No ; it at once 
discourages those who are strangers to the light of truth 
from coming into the regions of it, and countenances, by 
example, the nations who continue in darkness in shutting 
out those who might convey it to them. Instead of level- 
ling as far as possible, every obstacle to the victorious 
progress of truth, the bill, with an ignoble and unchristian 
timidity, would circumscribe it with a wall of defence, and 
give all latitude to the encroachments of error. 

" Because, attempts to enforce, by legal sanctions, acts 
obnoxiously to so great a proportion of citizens, tend to 
enervate the laws in general, and to slacken the bands of 
society. If it be difficult to execute any law which is not 
generally deemed necessary, or salutary, what must be the 
case where it is deemed invalid, and dangerous] And 
what may be the effect of so striking an example of impo- 
tency in the government, on its general authority % 

" Because, a measure of such singular magnitude and deli- 

* Declaration of Eights, Art. 16. 






IN VIRGINIA. 85 

cacy ought not to be imposed without the clearest evidence 
that it is called for by a majority of citizens, and no satis- 
factory method is yet proposed by which the voice of the 
majority in this case may be determined, or its influence 
secured. c The people of the respective counties are 
[indeed] requested to signify their opinion, respecting the 
adoption of the bill, to the next Legislature.'* But the 
representation must be made equal, before the voice, either 
of the representatives or of the counties, will be that of the 
people. Our hope is, that none of the former will, after 
due consideration, espouse the dangerous principle of the 
bill. Should the event disappoint us, it will still leave us 
in full confidence that a fair appeal to the latter will reverse 
the sentence against our liberties. 

" Because, finally, ' the equal right of every citizen to the 
free exercise of his religion, according to the dictates of 
conscience,' is held by the same tenure with all our other 
rights. If we recur to its origin, it is equally the gift of 
nature; if we ask for its importance, it cannot be less 
dear to us ; if we consult the ' declaration of those rights 
which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis 
and foundation of government,' it is enumerated with 
equal solemnity, or rather, with studied emphasis. Either, 
then, we must say, that the will of the Legislature is the 
only measure of their authority, and that, in the plenitude 
of their authority, they may sweep away all our fundamen- 
tal rights ; or, that they are bound to leave this particular 
right untouched and sacred. Either we must say that they 
may control the freedom of the press, may abolish the trial 
by jury, may swallow up the executive and judiciary pow- 
ers of the State, nay, that they may annihilate our very 
right of suffrage, and erect themselves into an independent 
and hereditary assembly ; or, we must say that they have 

* Beferred to in the proceedings of the late session of the General Committee. 



86 EARLY BAPTISTS 

no authority to enact into a law the bill under considera- 
tion. 

" We, the subscribers, say that the General Assembly of 
this Commonwealth have no such authority, and, that no 
effort on our part may be omitted against so dangerous a 
usurpation, we oppose to it this remonstrance, earnestly 
praying, as we are in duty bound, that the Supreme Law- 
giver of the universe, by illuminating those to whom it is 
addressed, may, on the one hand, turn their counsels from 
every act which would affront His holy prerogative, or 
violate the trust committed to them; and, on the other, 
guide them into every measure which may be worthy of 
His blessing, may redound to their own praise, and may 
establish more firmly the liberties, the prosperity, and the 
happiness of this Commonwealth."* 

These, Gentlemen, are the attitudes, as shown by their 
memorials, of the several parties, as they stood before the 
Legislature of 1785, in which so many measures, all involv- 
ing vital principles, were pending, and now to be definitely 
settled. The conflict was long, and arduous. The first 
result was the defeat of the bill, which proposed the assess- 
ment, by the Legislature, of taxes upon the people for the 
support, in connection with the several denominations, of 
the ministers of religion. In this result the early Baptists 
of Virginia gained yet another triumphant victory. And 
this achievement was the more honorable to them, because 
all the other denominations, with Patrick Henry, were 
against them. " The Baptists," truly remarks Dr. Hawks, 
" were the principal promoters of this work, [the defeat of 
the assessment bill] and, in truth, aided more than any other 
denomination in its accomplishment." Referring to the 
course of the Presbyterians , who sometimes petitioned the 
Legislature against, and sometimes in favor of assessments, 

* Semple's History of the Virginia Baptists, pp. 435-444. 



IN VIRGINIA. 87 

and who, at one time, were all, not even excepting the Han- 
over Presbytery, the advocates of assessments, this historian, 
who so much deprecates the "religious liberty" of Virginia, 
remarks : " There can be little doubt that the distinguished 
individual [Mr. Jefferson] who was the leader in securing 
the adoption of the measures already detailed, entertained 
the belief that it would be no difficult task to complete at 
a future session the work which he had begun, and to 
negative the plan of a general assessment for the support 
of Christianity; nor would his expectation in this particu- 
lar have been disappointed, [he alludes to the previous 
delays of the bill, and postponements of similar measures,] 
but for a circumstance recorded by himself,* as having 
interposed obstacles. In his chief object, that of giving a 
death-blow to the legalized superiority of the Establishment 
over all other denominations of Christians, he was very 
cordially supported by a large body of allies, who belonged 
to the dissenting interest; but when that great end was 
once obtained, and every religious society stood upon the 
same level, the question in dispute assumed to these allies 
[the Presbyterians] a very different aspect, and they deserted 
the standard under which they had before achieved their 
victory. They had prostrated the Church ; they had proved 
themselves not at all reluctant to strip her clergy of that 
important maintenance which was secured to them by the 
possession of property ; but they now manifested an aver- 
sion, more natural than consistent, to being left to find a 
precarious support for themselves, in the tender mercies of 
a set of voluntary contributors ; and the manner, almost 
approaching to querulousness, in which this desertion is 
recorded, [by Mr. Jefferson,] accompanied, as it is, by an 
insinuation as to the motives of the deserters, justifies the 
suspicion that the desertion was felt to be ungenerous. 

* Jefferson's Works. 



55 I ARLY BAPTISES 

The impartial reader of a fQtare day will probably concede 
that it was a game not unskilfully played, in which the 
troops outwitted the general." He adds: M The Baptist 
historian boasts that they [the Baptists] alone were uni- 
form in their efforts to destroy the system of a n nent. 
and introduce the plan of voluntary contributions ; that in 
the other denominations there was much division of senti- 
ment between the ministers and people ; and that remon- 
strances came at last from none but the Baptists."* 

Si was this the only victory achieved by "The Z 
Baptists of Virginia,'' during the sitting of the Legislature of 
1785. They a i/ied another, still more important if possible, 
in the massage of the law '" KstalJU/} : 7 -: : :•:'." 

The origin of this law, we have seen, is the Declaration of 
Principles, by the General Association, in 1775 : the subse- 
quent close intimacy, and relations, between our Commis- 
sioners, and Air. .Jezerson, and Mr. Madison, which made 
the forme: its draftsman, and the latter its successful advo- 
cate; its approval by the Association c: 1779, tc which it 
was submitted by its framers ; and the : : : ".. end perseve- 
rance, with which :: was urged upon the Legislature, from 
year to year, by our people. Of his connection with this 
act, Mr. Jefferson himself, gives the following account: — 
" Early in the session of 177:. to which I returned, [from 
Congress.] I moved, and present ; . a bill, for ; the Ee vision 
of the Lev-.' which was panned on the 24th of October, 
and on the 6th :: November, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, 
Gee i g b 1 f - :n, Thomas L. Lee. and my selfj ppointed 

a committTT t: execute the work. We agreed to meet in 
Fredericksburg, to settle the plan of operations, and to dis- 
tribute the work. We met there accordingly, on the 18th 
of January, 17 7 7. The firet raestion w - . whether we 
should propose to abolish the whole existing system ;: I 

*Hist Prot. Ep. CTl in Ta. T pp. 151. 152. 1: ' 



IN VIRGINIA. 89 

and prepare a new, and complete Institute, or preserve the 
general system, and only modify it to suit the present state 
of things." The latter course was adopted. Mr. Mason 
resigned, Mr. Lee died. " We were employed in the work 
from that time to February, 1779, when we met in "Wil- 
liamsburg ; that is to say, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, and 
myself; and meeting day by day, we examined critically, 
our several parts, sentence by sentence, scrutinising, and 
amending, until we had agreed on the whole. We then 
returned home, had fair copies made of our several parts, 
which were reported to the General Assembly, January 
18th, 1779, by Mr. Wythe and myself, Mr. Pendleton's 
residence being distant, and he having authorised us by 
letter, to declare his approbation. We had into this work, 
brought so much of the Common Law as it was thought 
necessary to alter ; all the British Statutes, from Magna 
Charta to the present day ; and all the laws of Virginia, 
from the establishment of our Legislature, in the 4th of 
James the 1st., to the present time, which we thought 
should be retained, within the compass of a hundred and 
twenty-six bills, making a printed folio of ninety pages 
only. Some bills were taken out occasionally, from time to 
time, and passed. But the main body of the work was not 
entered upon by the Legislature, until after the general 
peace, in 1785, when by the unwearied exertions of Mr, 
Madison, in opposition to the endless quibbles, chicaneries, 
perversions, vexations, and delays of lawyers, and demi- 
lawyers, most of the bills were passed by the Legislature, 
with little alteration. ' The bill for Establishing Religious 
Freedom,' the principles of which had, to a certain degree, 
been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of rea- 
son, and right. It still met with opposition, but with some 
mutilations of the preamble, it was finally passed." " The 
passage of the bill took place in December, 1785, more 



90 EARLY BAPTISTS 

than six years after it had been first reported to the House."* 
The main features of the law are as follows : — 

" Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free ; 
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, 
or burdens, or civil incapacitations, tend only to beget 
habits of hypocrisy, and meanness, and are a departure from 
the plan of the holy Author of our religion, who being 
Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it 
by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do ; 
and the impious presumption of legislators, and rulers, civil 
as well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible, 
and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith 
of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of 
thinking, as the only true, and infallible, and as such en- 
deavoring to impose them on others, have established, and 
maintained false religions over the greater part of the world, 
and through all time ; that to compel a man to furnish con- 
tributions of money, for the propagation of opinions which 
he disbelieves, is sinful, and tyrannical, or even to force him 
to support this or that teacher of his own religious persua- 
sion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving 
his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he 
would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most 
persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the 
ministry those temporary rewards which proceeding from 
an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional 
incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the in- 
struction of mankind ; that our civil rights have no de- 
pendence upon our religious opinions, any more than our 
opinions on physics or geometry ; that, therefore, the pro- 
scribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence, by 
laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of 
trust, and emolument, unless he profess, or renounce, this, 

* Jefferson's Works, Vol. 1. pp. 34 — 36. 



IN VIRGINIA. 91 

or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously, of 
those privileges, and advantages, to which in common with 
his fellow-citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends 
only to corrupt the principles of that religion it was meant 
to encourage, by bribing with monopoly of wordly honors, 
and emoluments, those who will externally profess and con- 
form to it ; that though indeed, those are criminal who do 
not withstand such temptations, yet neither are those inno- 
cent who lay the bait in their way ; that to suffer the civil 
magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, 
and to restrain the propagation, or profession of principles, 
on supposition of their ill-tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, 
which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being 
of course, judge of that tendency, will make his opinions 
the rule of his judgment, and approve, or condemn the sen- 
timents of others only, as they shall square with, or differ 
from his own ; that it is time enough for the rightful pur- 
poses of civil government, for its officers to interfere, when 
principles break out into overt acts against peace, and good 
order ; and finally that ' truth is great, and will prevail,' if 
left to herself, that she is the proper antagonist of error, 
and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human 
interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argu- 
ment, and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when she 
is permitted freely to contradict them : 

" Be it enacted by this General Assembly, that no man 
shall be compelled to frequent, or support, any religious 
worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall he be en- 
forced, or restrained, molested, or burdened, in his body, or 
goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious 
opinions, or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, 
and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of 
religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, en- 
large, or affect their civil capacities." " And that we do 



92 EARLY BAPTISTS 

declare that the rights hereby asserted, are of the natural 
rights of mankind." * 

It is only necessary to compare this law with the various 
Declarations of Principles on political subjects, and Memo- 
rials of " The Early Baptists of Virginia," already before 
you, to see that they are precisely identical. That it is 
emphatically a Baptist law, is conceded by our opponents 
themselves. Dr. Hawks, ignorant of the relations between 
our fathers, and Messrs. Jefferson and Madison, and anxious 
to stigmatise the law as an emanation of the supposed infi- 
delity of the former gentleman, remarks : — " An act was 
passed by the Legislature of 1785, which was viewed by 
many [Episcopalians, and Methodists] as subversive in its 
declarations, of the christian religion, and called forth at 
the time, the severest animadversions of some who still 
reverenced the faith of the Apostles. This was the ' Act 
for Establishing Religious Freedom,' and preceded by a 
Memorial from the pen of Mr. Madison, which is supposed 
to have led to the passage of the law." f It is matter of 
record in their proceedings, that when in 1785, they had 
repeated their Declaration of Principles, the General Com- 
mittee placed them in the hands of Mr. Madison, with the 
request that he would embody them in their behalf, in a 
Memorial to the Legislature, praying for the passage of this 
law. X These proceedings were had in August. The 
Legislature assembled in October, two months afterwards. 
Meanwhile, the address had been numerously signed, and 
sent to the Capitol. Mr. Madison read the paper, and with 
all his great powers, advocated the bill. By this means, as 
our opponents themselves confess, the passage of the bill 
was obtained. Mr. Jefferson also refers to the same fact. 
He says : — " I prepared the Act for Eeligious Freedom, in 
1777, as part of the revisal, which was not [the revisal] re- 

* Code of Virginia, p. 360. f Hist. Prot, Epis. Ch. in Ya. pp. 173, 174. 
X Semple's Hist, in loco. 



IN VIRGINIA. 93 

ported to trie Assembly until 1779, and that particular law 
not passed till 1785, and then by the efforts of Mr. Madi- 
son."* 

In these, and other facts, now before you, in this con- 
nection, we have an explanation of reports which have 
heretofore been floating in Virginia society, and on the 
surface of literature, in the somewhat intangible form of 
general rumor. Not a few writers of history, and other 
works, have referred to them, in about the same terms. 
They have told us, that Mr. Jefferson was in the habit of 
attending the meetings of a Baptist Church in his neigh- 
borhood, and closely scrutinizing its polity ; and that he 
afterwards said, that he had gathered many of his ideas of 
what a Republic should be, from the government of that 
Church. Mrs. Madison, according to Dr. Curtis, in his 
late admirable work on the "Progress of Baptist Principles," 
testified that he so stated to her. Of the correctness of 
this declaration there is no reason to doubt. Mr. Jefferson 
himself, whatever he might have said to his friends, pub- 
lished nothing that I have seen on the subject. Another 
fact also, in corroboration of this, is unquestionably true, as 
many yet living aver, and not a few have in my own pres- 
ence asserted; it is that Mr. Jefferson was accustomed 
freely to confess to his associates, particularly the ministers, 
and others of our church, that the Baptist doctrines on 
that subject, had enlightened, and fixed his principles in 
relation to Religious Freedom. No one, I presume, can 
contemplate the facts now before us, and then seriously 
question the truth of this general statement. 

In relation to another of the measures before the Legis- 
lature of 1785, our brethren signally failed. Strangely 
contradictory as it was, of all their lately declared princi- 
ples, and proceedings, this Legislature passed a law for 

* Works, Vol. i., p. 143. 



94 EARLY BAPTISTS 

" The Incorporation of the Protestant Episcopal Church.' 
Its leading provisions were as follows : — 

"Whereas, The clergy of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, by their petition presented, have requested that 
their church may be incorporated, Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly, That every minister of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church now holding a parish within this Com- 
monwealth, either by appointment from a vestry, or induc- 
tion from a governor, and all the vestrymen in the different 
parishes now instituted, or which may hereafter be institu- 
ted within this Commonwealth, that is to say, the minister, 
and vestrymen of each parish respectively, or in case of a 
vacancy, the vestry of each parish, and their successors 
for ever, are hereby made a body corporate, and politic, etc." 
By this law each vestry could hold property not to exceed 
an annual income of eight hundred pounds ; could sue, and 
be sued ; hold the glebe lands, etc.* In favor of this bill, 
Patrick Henry gave all his great powers, and it became 
a law. 

The succeeding session of the General Committee was 
held, commencing August 5th, 1786, at Anderson's, in Buck- 
ingham. Mr. Ford reported that he " waited on the House 
of Assembly, according to appointment ; that the bill pro- 
posing a General Assessment had been defeated ; and that 
the bill Establishing Eeligious Freedom had passed into a 
law ; also, that the act deprecated by them heretofore, and 
against which they had, at former meetings, earnestly 
petitioned, Incorporating the Episcopal Church, had been 
adopted, one effect of which was, to continue in the hands 
of that sect, a large amount of property, the glebes espe- 
cially, belonging rightfully to the State, and thereby to give 
them a great advantage over christians of other denomina- 
tions." After mature consideration, and discussion, the 

* Herrings' Stat, at Large, Vol. ii., p. 532. 



IN VIRGINIA. 95 

Committee adopted unanimously, the following resolution, 
which they carried out with their usual energy: — "Besolved, 
That petitions ought to be drawn up, and circulated in the 
different counties [for the signatures of the people] and 
presented to the next General Assembly, praying for the 
repeal of the Act Incorporating the Episcopal Church ; and 
that the property vested by that act, in said church, be sold, 
and the money applied to the public use." To carry out 
these purposes, and to attend the Legislature, Rev. Messrs. 
Reuben Ford, and John Leland, were appointed, on behalf 
of the General Committee. The agitations commenced, 
and a burst of indignation went throughout the State. 
The Legislature assembled, and of its proceedings in the 
premises, Dr. Hawks speaks as follows: — 

" The efforts of the Presbyterians, and Baptists to procure 
memorials to be presented to the Legislature, for a repeal 
of the act incorporating the church, and for the distribu- 
tion of its property for the public benefit, have already been 
recorded. The Convention [of the Episcopal Church] was 
not insensible to the danger to be apprehended from the 
deep seated hostility of these two denominations, and there- 
fore prepared a petition to the Legislature to counteract 
the effect of their memorials, and recommended to the 
several parishes, to prepare, and present petitions of a 
similar character. But all was in vain. In the next ses- 
sion of the General Assembly of Virginia, which succeeded 
the Convention, these memorials, and petitions, were 
brought up for consideration, and on the 5th of December, 
1786, the House of Delegates, among other resolutions, 
adopted the following : — " That the act for incorporating 
the Episcopal Church ought to be repealed." On the 9th 
of January, 1787, the bill to carry into effect these resolu- 
tions, was passed by the Senate, and thus became the law 
of Virginia." * 

* Hist. Prot. Epis. Oh. in Ya. p. 194. 



96 EARLY BAPTISTS 

The Committee assembled August 10th, 1787, at Dover, 
in Goodland. Messrs. Ford and Leland, reported that 
according to their instructions, they presented the memo- 
rial entrusted to them, to the Legislature ; that the act in- 
corporating the Episcopal Church was repealed in accor- 
dance with their wishes ; but that the Glebe laws remained 
untouched, and in full force." Again the Committee passed 
a resolution, declaring the Glebes public property, and that 
they ought to be sold, and the proceeds applied to public 
purposes. Their ends gained, as will be seen, in regard 
to these glebes, and their victory was complete. These 
splendid estates, so numerous and so valuable, were still 
in the hands of the Episcopal clergy. Their alienation, 
and sale, our fathers found to be their most difficult 
work. 

I here take occasion to say, that " Hie Vestry law" of 
which we have frequently spoken, was adopted March 23rd, 
1660-1, and provided, "That twelve of the most able men 
of each parish, be by the major part of said parish, chosen 
to be a vestry • out of which number, the minister, and 
vestry, to make choice of two church wardens yearly ; as 
also in the case of the death of any vestryman, or his de- 
parture from the parish, that the said minister, and vestry, 
make choice of another in his room." To qualify them for 
office, they were required to take the oath of supremacy 
to the British Sovereign, and " Subscribe the doctrine, and 
discipline of the Church of England." Among their most 
prominent duties, they were " To lay the parish levy, and 
collect, and pay over the amount to the minister." * And 
what the glebes in question were, will perhaps, be best 
understood by reference to some of the leading laws by 
which they were brought into being. The act of March 
6th, 1655-6, provides that parishes be laid out in every 

* Laws of Ya., revised, fol. ed. 1769, pp. 2, 250. 



INVIKGINIA. 97 

county, and that by a tax upon the people, funds be collected 
to purchase "a glebe, and stock, for the minister that shall 
be settled there." It was enacted March 9th, 1657-8, that 
further taxes be laid upon the people, for the " purchasing 
of glebes, and stock, for the ministers." These taxes were 
levied, collected, and disbursed, in each parish, by " the ves- 
tries thereof." In 1748 it was enacted, " That in every 
parish in this Dominion, where a good and convenient glebe 
is not already purchased, and appropriated, a good and con- 
venient tract of land, to contain two hundred acres at least, 
shall be purchased by the vestry, and assigned, and set 
apart, for a glebe, for the use of the minister of such parish, 
and his successors in all times hereafter ; and where man- 
sion, and other convenient out houses are not already 
erected for the .habitation of the minister, it is hereby 
declared, and enacted, that the vestry of every such parish, 
shall have power, and they are hereby authorized, and re- 
quired, to cause to be erected, and built, on such glebe, one 
convenient mansion-house, kitchen, barn, stables, dairy, 
meat-house, corn-house, garden well paled, or enclosed with 
a mud fence, with such other conveniences as they shall 
think fit ; and to levy the charge of the glebe lands, and 
buildings, on the titheable persons, in their respective 
parishes." * Each parish had one of these farms for the 
Episcopal minister. They were usually among the best in 
the country. They were bought with the money of the 
people, of all the people, without distinction of sect. Our 
brethren maintained, therefore, that they belonged to the 
people, and ought now to be returned to them, to assist in 
paying the debts of the country. This was the result they 
sought. Often had they been foiled in their purpose. 
Long was this act of justice delayed. But never for a 
moment did they lose sight of their object, or relax their 
exertions for its attainment. Memorials were regularly 

*Utsup pp. 250,251,252. 

7 



98 EARLY BAPTISTS 

prepared, and commissioners sent to the Legislature ; in 
1787, Eleazar Clay, Reuben Ford, John Waller, and John 
Williams; in 1788, Messrs. Leland, Waller, and Clay. 
But to pursue this detail is unnecessary. The Legislature 
assembled in 1799, and our memorials were presented, and 
favorably received. The following act was then passed, 
entitled " An act to repeal certain acts, and to declare the 
construction of the Bill of Eights, and Constitution, con- 
cerning Religion." 

"Whereas the Constitution of the State of Virginia, 
hath pronounced the government of the King of England 
to have been totally dissolved by the Revolution, hath sub- 
stituted in place of the said government so dissolved, a new 
civil government, and hath in the Bill of Rights excepted 
from the powers given to the substituted government, the 
power of reviving any species of ecclesiastical or church 
government, in lieu of that so dissolved, by referring the 
subject of religion to the conscience; and whereas the 
several acts presently recited, do admit the church esta- 
blished under the regal government, to have been continued 
so subsequently to the constitution ; have bestowed property 
upon that church ; have asserted a legislative right to esta- 
blish any religious sect ; and have incorporated religious 
sects; all of which is inconsistent with the principles of 
the constitution, and of religious freedom, and manifestly 
tends to the re-establishment of a national church ; for 
remedy whereof," and with this preamble it was enacted 
that the several acts of 1776, of 1779, of 1784, of 1785, 
of 1786, and 1788, be repealed; and "that the act for the 
Establishment of Religious Freedom contains the true con- 
struction of the Bill of Rights, and Constitution."* 

This law, as will be seen, was a necessary preparation 
for, but did not order the sale of the glebes. This was 
accomplished by the law of January 12th, 1802, which is 
* Laws of Ya., edit. 1803, p. 388. 



IN VIRGINIA. 99 

as follows : — " Whereas, the General Assembly, on the 24th 
day of January, 1799, by their act of that date, repealed 
all the laws relative to the late Protestant Episcopal Church, 
and declared a true exposition of the Bill of Rights, and 
Constitution, respecting the same, to be contained in the 
act entitled 'An act for Establishing Religious Freedom,' 
thereby recognizing the principle that all property formerly 
belonging to the said church, of every description, devolved 
on the good people of this Commonwealth, on the dissolu- 
tion of the British government here, in the same degree in 
which the right and interest of the said church was derived 
therein from them ;" and the General Assembly proceeds 
to order the sale of the glebes. The final victory of The 
Early Baptists of Virginia was gained; their triumph was 
complete. This closing measure Dr. Hawks attributes 
emphatically to the Baptists. Speaking of the decision of 
the General Committee in 1787, he says, " That vote deci- 
ded the fate of the glebes." In another place he observes : 
"After the final success of the Baptists, [in their several 
previous measures,] their next efforts were to procure the 
sale of the church lands, and their efforts never ceased 
until the glebes were sold." Again he remarks : — " The 
war which they [the Baptists] waged against the church, 
was a war of extermination. They seem to have known 
no relentings, and their hostility never ceased for seven-and- 
tioenty years. They revenged themselves for their suffer- 
ings, by the almost total ruin of the church ;" the loss of 
all its vast landed possessions in Virginia.* 

Thus, gentlemen, have we seen the designs in relation to 
the government of the State, of The Early Baptists of Vir- 
ginia; the measures they adopted; and the manner in 
which they prosecuted them to a successful issue. They 
labored long, and anxiously. Their success was complete. 
They embodied all their political principles as we ha v e 

* Hist, of Ch. in Ya., pp. 152, 153. 



100 EARLY BAPTISTS 

clearly shown, gradually, but surely, in trie Declaration of 
Eights, the Constitution, and the Statutes of the State. 
The enemies of religious freedom, and equality, resisted 
strenuously. The struggle was intense, and protracted. 
They employed every stratagem to evade, or to turn aside 
our pursuit. They relinquished their ground only as they 
were forced, and then inch by inch, and with the bitterest 
reluctance. All their movements the Baptists watched 
with sleepless vigilance ; met firmly, and gallantly, at every 
point ; and drove them back discomfitted. Upon the legis- 
lative attention they continued to press their doctrines, 
until their whole purpose was fully accomplished. The 
government of Virginia assumed the form that met their 
entire approval. It became at length, it yet remains, God 
grant it may ever continue, perfectly Baptist. 

Nor did the results of their labors terminate here. They 
extended their vigilance, and with the same success, to the 
organization of the General Government. They had extra- 
ordinary advantage arising out of the fact that their ablest 
coadjutors at home, were prominent actors in the formation 
of the goverment of the United States. The Constitution 
of the Federal Union, was adopted in 1787. The Vlth. 
Article refers to religion in this language : — " No religious 
test shall ever be required, as a qualification to any office, 
or public trust, under the United States." The General 
Committee met, March the 7th, 1788, at Williams', in 
Goochland. " The first Religious Political subject," [I quote 
from the minutes,] " that was taken up," was, " Whether 
the new Federal Constitution, which had now lately made 
its appearance in public, made sufficient provision for the 
secure enjoyment of religious liberty; on which it was 
agreed unanimously that it did not." * Upon consultation 
on the subject with Mr. Madison, the Committee deter- 
mined to address General Washington. At this meeting, 

* Semple's Hist, of Ya. Baptists, pp. 76, 77. 



IN VIRGINIA. 101 

a correspondence was present, from the Baptists of New 
York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Mr. Leland was 
appointed to bear to them a response from the Committee, 
in person, and to solicit their co-operation, which was 
cordially granted. The address to Washington was pre- 
sented in August, 1789, and by his powerful aid, together 
with that of the other gentlemen named, was carried 
through Congress the next month, September, 1789, the 
amendment which is^now the supreme law on that subject, 
of the United States. It is one of those amendments set 
down as proposed by Virginia, and is as follows : — " Con- 
gress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridg- 
ing the freedom of speech, or of the press ; or the right of 
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the gov- 
ernment for a redress of grievances." Thus do we see that 
the Baptists embodied their principles not only in the Con- 
stitution of Virginia, but also in the Constitution of the 
United States. The American government is Baptist. 
And who does not know the paramount influence of Vir- 
ginians, and Virginia laws, in the formation of the govern- 
ments of the other States, all of which at last adopted fully, 
in principle, and in practice, the doctrine of " Religious 
Freedom." All these glorious results reflect additional 
lustre upon the fame of " The Early Baptists of Virginia." 
Into these considerations, however, I do not enter. I con- 
fine myself to Virginia. Here the Baptist triumph was 
completed. 

But, in the statement of the facts now submitted, have 
we not, the question naturally arises, done injustice to our 
brethren of the other denominations that then prevailed in 
the Commonwealth'? 

From the brow, gentlemen, of any patriot of " those times 
that tried men's souls," far be it from me to pluck a single 
laurel. I give, and will ever give, all " honor to whom 



102 EARLY BAPTISTS 

honor" is clue. That very many of all denominations, 
Presbyterians, and even Methodists, and Episcopalians, 
labored together with the Baptists, is well known. But it 
is equally well known, that whatever action they took 
in favor of full religious freedom, was due to them as 
individuals, and not as churches. The Episcopal Churches, 
as such, resisted, as they are all obliged to concede, 
earnestly, and to the end, all change, and sought by 
every possible means to retain their hold upon the 
power and patronage of the government. Of the Me- 
thodist Churches, Dr. Hawks, says : — u They claimed to be 
nothing more than members of a religious society, formed 
within the bosom of the established church at home, and 
extended to America. The language of the Methodist 
Preachers was, that ' All who left the Church, left the 
Methodists.' Nay, such was the avowed attachment of the 
society, that in public opinion it was so far identified with 
the Church, as to share with it the odium which from po- 
litical causes, then rested on the establishment in Virginia. 
The Methodists were suspected of being inimical to the 
liberties of America. This suspicion in the minds of many, 
originated in nothing but the known adherence of the 
society to an ecclesiastical system which had the support 
of the civil power."* He adds, " In these petitions, all 
classes in the community, with the exception of Churchmen 
and Methodists, joined; these [Churchmen and Methodists] 
sent in their respective petitions, for the continuance of the 
establishment, "f The Presbyterian Churches, except the 
gallant little Hanover Presbytery, which, as we have before 
seen, lived in the neighborhood, and were under the influ- 
ence of Patrick Henry, generally favoring or opposing every 
measure which he favored or opposed, occupied a middle 
ground between vassalage and freedom. They all united 
to put down the establishment, but then, most of them 

* Hist, of Epis. in Ya., p. 133. f Hawks as above, p. 139. 



IN VIRGINIA. 103 

wished to be incorporated — in other words, established — 
themselves, and to have the power by law, to assess, that 
is, to tax the people, for their own support. Dr. Semple, 
says of them all, that " The ministry and the people, were 
so much at variance, as to paralyze all their exertions." The 
Baptists alone, throughout the whole struggle, presented an 
unbroken front. The Hanover Presbytery, and Patrick 
Henry himself, in some of our deepest struggles, not only 
forsook us, but, as we have seen, took opposite ground, and 
sought with all their ability, to prevent our success. This 
was emphatically true when the bill was under discussion 
before the legislature, " Establishing a Provision for Teach- 
ers of the Christian Eeligion," which enacted for that pur- 
pose, the assessment of taxes upon the people. They sent 
up a memorial declining an incorporation, not abstractly ', but 
in that particular form which was proposed, because it 
offered to incorporate the ministry apart from the people, 
since this would make the ministry independent of the reli- 
gious communities to which they belonged; would make 
them sole managers of the pecuniary interests of the 
Churches ; and would be a returning to the policy of Po- 
pery. They deprecated legislation by the State, as to any 
thing spiritual belonging to the Church, such as pointing 
out " articles of faith," " settling modes of worship," " or 
directing internal government ;" but admitted it as to tem- 
poralities. They prayed that the scheme of assessment 
adopted, if any were, might be " on the most liberal plan," 
and proceeded to submit such a plan, " agreeable to which 
alone," they averred, " Presbytery are loilling to admit a 
general assessment for the support of religion by law ;" the 
leading principles of which have been already fully stated. 
This bill, and also the bill, " Incorporating the Protestant 
Episcopal Church," received, as we have seen, the powerful 
advocacy of Henry. The latter was passed into a law. The 
intelligence of this fact, as it spread throughout the State, 



104 EARLY BAPTISTS 

filled the people with equal surprise and alarm. The Bap- 
tists saw that they must fight this battle alone, and against 
fearful odds. They therefore with augmented energy and 
industry, made their preparations. They appealed confi- 
dently to their fellow citizens. Their memorials written 
with singular perspicuity, force, and conclusiveness, were 
signed by thousands of every sect, and of no sect. The 
masses, with whom republicanism had become the domi- 
nant political faith, now at length, regarded the church 
establishment, and all legislation upon religious subjects, as 
an inseparable appendage of monarchy, the last vestige of 
which they had determined to destroy in Virginia. " King- 
craft, priestcraft, and spiritual domination," were doomed. 
From their purpose nothing could turn them aside. They 
were too powerful to be slighted, and too vigilant to be 
cheated by ineffectual measures. Politicians of all classes, 
saw, that submission to their wishes was a necessity una- 
voidable. Under this pressure, the Hanover Presbytery 
again met in annual session. They too had taken the alarm. 
These subjects came up for discussion. Efforts were made 
to induce the body to recede from its position of the last 
year, and they did so by resolution, but no memorial or 
other address, was sent by them to the legislature. A Con- 
vention of Presbyterians was called by " invitation," says Dr. 
Foote, " signed by the ministers, and several private mem- 
bers." Such a body was of course unofficial, whose pro- 
ceedings the Hanover, and every other Presbytery, could, 
if policy should in future so dictate, safely disregard. This 
Convention met at Bethel, August the 10th, 1785, and 
protested against all assessments by law, for religious pur- 
poses, and all incorporations of religious denominations.* 
Popular as he was in every sense, this year Patrick Henry 
lost his election before the people. The legislature met. 
The Baptists and their allies, and also their opponents were 

* Foote's Sketches, &c, pp. 341-344. 






IN VIRGINIA. 105 

at their posts. The assessment project was defeated, and 
subsequently the law " incorporating the Episcopal Church" 
was repealed. Thus, it will be seen that in the statements 
before you, while I have endeavoured properly to represent, 
" The Early Baptists of Virginia," I have also done full jus- 
tice to our brethren of all the other denominations. How 
truly disinterested and sublime were all the movements of 
the Baptists ! Who can contemplate them, without feeling 
an unbounded admiration ! They sought no advantages for 
themselves peculiarly, but for all ; the dominion of truth 
and freedom ; the glorious principles of the gospel of Christ. 
All honor to " The Early Baptists of Virginia." Impartial 
history cannot always refuse to do them justice. 

VI. The position of our ministers and people in the com- 
monwealth, demands in conclusion, a few moments of our 
attention. 

That a body of men so elevated in their moral position, 
so active in their exertions for the public good, and so in- 
fluential in all their movements, should subsequently have 
been permitted to be so much depreciated in the public 
esteem, as we find them to have been, is to us, matter of 
profound surprise. I should have performed my task un- 
faithfully, gentlemen, if, before I conclude this discourse, I 
did not essay at least, to defend our Virginia Fathers from 
aspersions under which they have so long labored, and to 
place them before " The American Baptist Historical So- 
ciety," in their true character. Churches, as well as fami- 
lies and nations, have their pride of ancestry. To this 
praiseworthy feeling, poets and historians in all ages, have 
been wont to defer. The heroes of Homer were all allied 
to the gods, whose feelings were in every conflict, enlisted 
on the side of their respective descendants. Virgil repre- 
sents the Roman people as springing from a long line of 
Latin Kings, and the founder of their city as a demigod, 



106 EARLY BAPTISTS 

the son of Mars. Even Livy, the best of Eoman historians, 
introduces his work by similar fabulous accounts. These 
extravagances are not all on one side, as the depreciations 
of our ancestors evince. The disposition to exalt our 
friends, is coupled with an involuntary inclination to de- 
press our opponents. Accordingly they have been cur- 
rently represented as indeed, eminently religious and con- 
scientious men, estimable in their places, but without refine- 
ment, destitute of learning, and to a great extent, bigotted 
enthusiasts ! All this is utterly unfounded, and ought long 
since to have been corrected. How did such an impres- 
sion regarding " The Early Baptists of Virginia" originate I 
By what means has it been so long perpetuated? The 
solution of both these inquiries is easy to any one who will 
carefully study the whole subject. 

The extraordinary triumphs of the Baptists are at the 
bottom of it all. These mortified various influential par- 
ties insufferably, by whom they were privately, and through 
the press and the pulpit, as we have seen, instantly and 
ceaselessly assailed. They thought to treat them in Vir- 
ginia as they had been treated in Germany and England, 
to " tread them under foot, with foul reproaches and most 
arrogant scorn." Nor, incredible as it may appear, have 
they been entirely unsuccessful. These " foul reproaches," 
this " arrogant scorn," in the consciousness of their integ- 
rity and the pride of their strength, they did not deign to 
notice. Their enemies persevered in their aspersions and 
defamations. They were unanswered. Subsequent writers 
entered into their spirit, and copied their style. Whether 
abused as by Burk and Jarrett, misrepresented as by Dr. 
Hawks, ignored as by Dr. Foote, or caricatured as by Dr. 
Alexander, it was the same thing. And among these de- 
famers, involuntarily such it is hoped, I regret to say, are 
some in our own ranks, who seem to think themselves at 
liberty patronizingly to apologize for the deficiencies of men 



IN VIRGINIA. 107 

to whom they themselves are no more than molehills by 
the side of " Old Olympus." Thus, a form of public sen- 
timent was manufactured, which, on account of the quarter 
whence it sprung, and because it was unresisted, sunk at 
length deeply into the literature of the times, and became 
comparatively permanent. At first, for much of the 
revolutionary spirit that prevailed among the masses, and 
especially those radical principles of liberty, political and 
religious, so offensive to the clergy and their friends, they 
were held responsible. Not a few of those who were anxi- 
ous, subsequently, to appropriate to themselves the chief 
honors, were at that time sufficiently silent; because they 
had many reasons to doubt whether the British yoke would, 
after all, be broken, and for their own safety they were ever 
especially mindful. Had the American revolution failed, 
the Baptists of this country would undoubtedly have been 
involved in an obloquy as deep as was that of their brethren 
of a former age, in Germany. Their offences would here 
also have been expiated by " the blood of myriads." Vir- 
ginia would have been the Munster of America. It was, 
therefore, precisely because they possessed, so eminently, 
intelligence, public influence, and moral force ; those very 
qualities now denied them, and for the want of which they 
have been so long defamed, and which they exercised so 
successfully • that this feeling of dislike, not to say hatred, 
arose, and has ever since been cherished, by all the other 
denominations. They are gravely charged, in learned and 
popular histories of the times, and which none of our own 
people, since the days of Semple, have ever contradicted, 
but have quoted apparently with approbation, with being 
influenced in all they did by such motives only as malignant 
hatred to the Established Church ; an overweening zeal to 
advance their own interest as a sect ; and a general restless 
and disorganizing spirit ; as guided by no patriotism ; and 



108 EARLY BAPTISTS 

as being the mere tools of a political party.* Gentlemen, 
are these slanders to remain always unanswered 1 All the 
implications contained in these, and like representations, 
severally and as a whole, and all others of like character, 
from whatever source, here, and in your presence, I repel, in 
the name, and on behalf of the noble dead. They were 
capable of being influenced by no such feelings, or motives. 
They sought no sectarian advantages. They were impelled 
by no malignity. No spirit of revenge animated their pro- 
ceedings. They maintained courteously, but firmly, only 
those doctrines which their fathers had advocated for seven- 
teen centuries. They desired only the dominion of those 
great principles embodied in the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. In the results, we see another happy illustration 
of the great fact, that although after many a century of 
suffering and strife, and the sacrifice of millions of treasure, 
and tens of thousands of the purest lives ever looked upon 
by the sun from heaven, still, 

" Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again ; 
The eternal years of God are hers ; 
While error, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies amid her worshippers." 

The Early Baptists of Virginia were not, as a whole, nor 
are the present Baptists of Virginia, the elite ; the aristo- 
cratic few who revel in luxury, and pride themselves, not 
upon what they themselves are, but upon the exalted posi- 
tion and great deeds of a long since buried ancestry. They 
were the masses of the people ; the bone and sinew of the 
country. Our churches contained, with these, many of the 
poor and obscure, who were M rich in faith, and heirs of the 
kingdom." These classes proved to be the truest, best and 
most useful Mends of the cause. It was from the rich, the 
proud, and the high born, of which they contained so many, 

* See Hawks' History, pp. 121, 122, 137, 138 ; Dr. John H. Rice's Pamph- 
lets; Dr. Alexander's Autobiography ; and Semple's History, pp. 234, 245. 






IN VIRGINIA. 109 

that the cause received much detriment, and the aspersions 
of our enemies were so long and so injuriously perpetuated. 
Large numbers of such, compelled by their consciences, 
united with the Baptists, and were ever afterwards boasting 
of the sacrifices of society, friendships, and refinements, they 
made to do so. To talk of "the poor Baptists;" to tell of 
" the ignorance " of some Baptist minister they had either 
seen, or heard of; to detail the opposition of their friends, 
or their families, to their throwing themselves away with 
such a rustic people ; became with them a passion. It 
invaded the pulpit. Often, indeed, was the same strain 
heard from the poorest of the community, who wished to 
be in fashion with their more cultivated brethren and sis- 
ters. The effect upon their own minds was most lament- 
able; their families generally had, in consequence, no 
respect for Baptist ministers, or people, avoided them, and 
united with other denominations, who were, perhaps, really 
less intelligent, cultivated, and wealthy, than the Baptists ; 
and our opponents, and the world, were ever ready to 
believe, and repeat, their outrageous defamations. Not all, 
thank God, of the exalted, the rich, and the cultivated, 
were of this temper. Not a few there were, in whose veins 
coursed the blood of the proudest cavaliers in the Common- 
wealth, who loved the Saviour, his truth, and his people, 
too much, and whose sense of propriety was too pure, to 
allow them to act so foolishly. The Baptist people, as a 
whole, were, in all respects, equal at least to the same 
number of men and women, taken promiscuously in society, 
in this or in any other country. It is time, Gentlemen, 
that these great and good men were effectually vindicated. 
In the cold shadows that have been permitted to gather 
over and obscure their fame, true religion has suffered, and 
continues to suffer, immeasurably. Baptists owe it to the 
revered dead ; they owe it to the cause of truth ; they owe 
it to themselves ; they owe it to posterity, to rescue them, 



110 EARLY BAPTISTS 

though late, from the withering grasp of their heartless 
pursuers. Not much longer can they be kept beneath the 
clouds of pampered envy and foul detraction. Truth will 
prevail at last. Then will it be seen and acknowledged, 
that a more brilliant army, a more gallant array of the 
soldiers of Christ, never fought or conquered. 

The early Baptists of Virginia were reproached upon the 
presumption that their ministers were uneducated men. 
This feature is nauseously prominent in the frequent refer- 
ences to them of Dr. Alexander. Of other denominations, 
the ministry desire to be judged by their best specimens. 
Ours, they insist upon judging by the worst. Were Bap- 
tists, even in those days, indifferent to the advantages of 
education'? Why, then, at the meeting of the General 
Committee, a body which represented the views of all the 
Baptists in the State, held in August, 1788, did they deter- 
mine to originate a college for the denomination in Virgi- 
nia, which they urged onward for several years, and deferred 
only because of the pecuniary pressure of the times ] Is 
not this, of itself, a sufficient evidence of the feelings of 
our ministers and people on this subject I Were the min- 
isters of that day, however, in the truest and best sense of 
learning, really uneducated men? No, Gentlemen, very 
far from it. Some of them were graduates of colleges, in 
this country, and in Europe. I will not say that, for all 
practical purposes, these were more learned than many of 
their brethren whom they honored, and with whom they 
delighted to labor. Cast your eye along their thick and 
serried ranks. Who are they] They are the Stearnses, 
the Marshalls, the Harrises, the Craigs, the Armsteads, the 
Wallers, the Fords, the Williamses, the Tolers, the Clays, 
the Nelsons, the Barrows, the Walkers, and hundreds of 
others. They came from the pulpits of the Episcopal, the 
Presbyterian, the Congregational, and other Churches; 
from their seats in the colonial legislature ; from the bar 



IN VIRGINIA. Ill 

of our courts ; from the roll of army officers ; from the 
teacher's chair ; from the offices of the justices and sheriffs 
of the counties ; and from the broad fields of the wealthy 
planter. The number of the strikingly illiterate was not, 
perhaps, greater than of those who had passed through 
college formalities. But the great mass of our ministry 
were not classically educated. How could they have been] 
Still, their learning was not inferior to that of the best 
portion of the people. Were men in the other professions 
all classically educated] Was Patrick Henry classically 
educated ] Were Bland, Pendleton, Carrington, classically 
educated ] Was Washington himself classically educated 1 
Of our ministers, the education of not a few, literary and 
professional, was equal, to say the least, with that of any 
of these truly great and distinguished men. That they 
had not the theological training of the schools, we have 
reason to be devoutly thankful ; since there then existed 
not upon the face of the earth an institution of this class, 
Protestant or Papist, the theology of which was not radi- 
cally and incurably corrupt. From the Bible alone, which 
they studied daily, with clear heads, warm hearts, and 
fervent piety, they derived their theology. Of the true 
teachings of the word of God, they consequently knew 
more than did all the Doctors of the Sorbonne, of Witten- 
burg, of Geneva, of Oxford, or of Cambridge. 

Is it pretended that, as a whole, or even generally, their 
sermons were greatly inferior in style and elocution, and 
that their manners in the pulpit were, for that day, rude 
and unpolished ! 

That there were some among them, here and there an 
individual, obnoxious to this imputation, and that the same 
was true to an equal extent, in proportion to numbers, of 
most of the other denominations, there can be no doubt. 
But of them as a class, it was far from being true. Baptist 
ministers generally, destitute of learning or eloquence, rude, 



112 EARLY BAPTISTS 

repulsive ! Why, then, gentlemen, were their discourses 
always heard by immense crowds, who were swayed and 
agitated by them, to an extent unprecedented ] Why were 
the splendid parish churches, whose magnificent ruins stand 
to this day, in many of the lower counties of Virginia, the 
mouldering monuments of colonial pride and extravagance, 
forsaken by their polished and courtly congregations, who 
eagerly followed these plebeians, hung upon their words 
with wrapt and delighted attention, and by hundreds united 
with our churches 1 By what power did they overthrow 
the triple walled citadel of the Establishment; sever the 
relations between church and state ; carry the whole people 
with them ; and impress their doctrines irrevocably upon 
the government of the country'? If without their aid, 
and loaded besides with repulsiveness, they did all this, 
then of what practical value are learning, eloquence, refine- 
ment, and polished manners ; since, destitute of them all, 
"The Early Baptists of Virginia" did more than, in any 
other age or country, ever was accomplished by the great, 
the mighty, and the wise \ If some of them were " no ora- 
tors," and this is certainly true, where is the denomination 
every one of whose ministers is a Whitefield, a Hall, or a 
Chalmers'! Our ministers, and our people, had all the 
learning, wealth, refinement, and influence, necessary for 
the accomplishment of those great purposes to which, in 
the providence of God, they were called. Not a few of 
them were men of amazing attainments. The Marshalls, 
the Harrises, the Williamses, the Walkers, the Lunsfords, 
the Stranghans ; and in later times, the Semples, the Clop- 
tons, the Goodalls, the Kerrs, and the Broadduses ; these, 
and such as these, possessed an amount of mental vigor, of 
intellectual cultivation, and pulpit power, that justly placed 
them on a level with any other ministers of their day, and 
country. Of eloquence, they were the very chiefs. With 
unsurpassed success, did they proclaim 



IN VIRGINIA. 113 

" Truths of power, 
In words immortal. Not such words as flash 
From the fierce demagogue's unthinking rage, 
To madden for a moment, *\nd expire ; 
Nor such as the wrapt orator imbues 
With warmth of facile sympathy, and moulds 
To mirrors radiant with fair images, 
To grace the noble fervor of an hour ; 
But words which bear'the spirit of great deeds, 
Winged for the future." 

To us, and especially to " The American Baptist Histori- 
cal Society," have " The Early Baptists of Virginia " be- 
queathed the custody of their illustrious name ; their sacred 
honor. You, Gentlemen, will not prove recreant to the 
trust. Nor will the sons of Virginia, who have inherited 
the sunny fields in which they achieved their conquests, 
now so full of fruit, and flowers, and beauty. Will you, 
shall we, who have entered into their labors, longer refrain 
to drive back their assailants, by a proper exhibition of the 
truth 1 He who can coldly, silently, heartlessly, permit 
their noble bearing, their generous sacrifices, their exalted 
deeds, to be buried in darkness, deserves not the name of 
Baptist. And he who, with parricidal hand, shall assist in 
their defamation, deserves, and will ere long receive, the 
execration of all good men. More and more precious with 
each revolving year, shall become the memory of our fath- 
ers. No element of security, moral or material, will we 
permit to remain unimproved, which may point with im- 
pressive force that important lesson, commended no less by 
the instincts of the universal heart, than by the testimony 
of all experience, that any people who would expect the 
blessing of God, insure their own honor, and hope for 
future success, must preserve as an inviolable treasure the 
broad segis upon which are emblazoned the virtues and 
achievements of their forefathers. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE SOCIETY. 



Article 1. This Department shall be called The American Baptist His- 
torical Society. 

Article 2. The object of this Society shall be to collect and preserve all 
manuscripts, documents and books, relating to Baptist History ; the biogra- 
phies of individuals, etc., etc., and to publish such historical and antiquarian 
works as the interests of the Denomination may demand. 

Article 3. This Society shall be composed of two classes of members, to 
wit; 1st. Contributing members; who shall consist of all such persons as may 
make an annual payment of one dollar to the Treasurer, or as may collect and 
contribute to the society any valuable historical documents, periodicals or 
manuscripts. 2d. Corresponding members; of whom not less than one in each 
State shall be appointed. All members shall be elected by the Board of 
Curators. 

Article 4. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President, eight 
Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding and a Recording Secretary and a Treasurer, 
who with twelve other persons shall constitute a Board of Curators. The 
officers shall be elected by " The American Baptist Publication Society " at 
each annual meeting, and shall hold their offices until their successors are ap- 
pointed. 

Article 5. The Board of Curators shall have the control and management 
of all such manuscripts, periodicals and books, as may be collected by or con- 
tributed to the Society, and they shall present a report of their proceedings to 
" The American Baptist Publication Society," at each anniversary, and shall 
fill all vacancies that may occur in their body. 

Article 6. This Society shall hold an annual meeting on the evening suc- 
ceeding the Anniversary of the Publication Society, when a Historical Address 
shall be delivered by such person, and on such subject, as the Board of Curators 
may designate. 

Article 7. Any Society organized for the same or a similar object, may 
become a co-operating body with this, by opening a correspondence with this 
Society, and furnishing a copy of their constitution, reports and publications. 

The officers and delegates of such co-operating societies shall be entitled to 
a seat at the meetings of this Society. 

Article 8. The Board of Curators shall meet as often as they think proper, 
and shall pass such by-laws as they may deem requisite for their government. 

Article 9. This Constitution may be altered or amended at any annual 
meeting: of "The American Baptist Publication Society," by that body. 



OFFICERS AND CURATORS FOR 183G-T. 



PRESIDENT. 

Ret. William R. Williams, D. D. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS. 



Rev. John M. Peck, D. D., III., 
" Wm. Hague, D. D., N. Y., 
" Baron Stow, D. D., Mass., 
" R. B. C. Howell, D. D., Ya. 



Hon. A. H. Dunlevy, Ohio., 
Hon. Isaac Davis, LL. D., Mass., 
Samuel Colgate, Esq., N. Y., 
Rev. Franklin Wilson, M. A., Md. 



CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 

Rev. J. Newton Brown, D. D. 

RECORDING SECRETARY. 

Horatio G. Jones, M. A., Esq. 

TREASUR R. 

Rev. Benj. R. Loxley. 



CURATORS. 



Rev. Joseph Belcher, D. D., 
" Wm. B. Jacobs, M. A., 
" Thomas H. Malcom, M. A., 
" N. B. Baldwin., 
" John M. Richards, M. A., 
" D. Benedict, D. D. 



Rev. C. W. Anable, M. A 

" W. T. Bunker, 
Levi Knowles, Esq., 
Jacob Chalfant, Esq., 
Samuel B. Crozer, Esq., 
Franklin Lee, Esq. 



CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 



Maine. 

Rev. S. L. Caldwell, Bangor. 
Rev. J. Belcher, Damariscotta. 

New Hampshire. 

Rev. E. Worth, Fisherville. 
Rev. E. E. Oummings, Pittsfield. 

Vermont. 
Rev. E. Smith, D. D., Fairfax. 

Massachusetts. 

Rev. R. H. Neale, D. D., Boston. 
Rev. S. F. Smith, D. D., Boston. 
Rev. R. E. Pattison, D. D., Watterville, 
Rev. G. B. Ide, D. D., Springfield. 
Rev. Thomas D. Anderson, Roxbury. 
Hon. G-. N. Briggs,LL. D., Pittsfield. 
Rev. J. C. Stockbridge, Boston. 
Rev. Heman Lincoln, Jamaica Plain. 

Connecticut. 

Rev. R. Turnbull, D. D., Hartford. 
Rev. S. D. Phelps, D. D., New Haven. 
Rev. Nathaniel Wildman, Waterford. 
Rev. James J. Woolsey, Norwalk. 

Rhode Island. 

Rev. D. Benedict, D. D., Pawtucket. 
Professor William Gammell, Prov, 
Rev. Henry Jackson, D. D., Newport. 
Rev. S. Adams, Newport. 
R. A. Guild, Esq., Providence. 

New York City. 

Rev. A. D. Gillette, D D. 

Rev. E. L. Magoon, D. D. 

Martin B. Anderson LL. D., Rochest'r. 

Rev. George B. Utter, New York. 

New York State. 

Rev. E. E. L. Taylor, D D., Brooklyn, 
Hon. Ira Harris LL. D., Albany. 
Jesse Clement, Esq., Buffalo. 



New Jersey. 
Bev. J, M. Carpenter, Jacob's Town. 
Rev. George Kempton, New Brunswick. 
Rev. Greenleaf S. Webb, D. D., do. 
Rev. C. B. Stout, Middleton. 
Rev. Rufus Babcock, D. D., Paterson. 

Pennsylvania. 
Rev. Thomas Winter, Leverington. 
Rev. Dr. Estep, Library Post Office. 
Rev. J. H. Kennard, D. D., Phila. 
Rev. Isaac W. Hayhurst, Lewisburg. 
Rev. W. Shadrach, D. D., Phila. 
Rev. Howard Malcom, D. D., Lewisb'g- 
Rev. D. Williams, Harrisburg. 
Rev. J. L. Richmond, Lewisburg. 

Delaware. 
Rev. F. Charlton, Wilmington. 
Rev. E. R. Hera, Dover. 

Maryland. 
Rev. Richard Fuller, D. D., Baltimore. 
William Crane, Esq., " 

Rev. J. H. Phillips, Rehoboth. 

Virginia. 
Rev. Robert Ryland, D. D., Richm'd. 
Rev. J. B. Taylor, A. M., 
Rev. Lucius A. Alderson, Palestine. 
Rev. F. M. Barker, Liberty. 

North Carolina. 
Rev. J. B. White, Forestville. 

South Carolina. 
Rev. J. R. Kendrick, Charleston. 
Rev. Josiah P. Tustin. Charleston. 

Georgia. 
Rev. Henry H. Tucker, La Grange. 
Milton E. Bacon, Esq., La Grange. 
Rev. John E. Dawson, Columbus. 

Alabama. 
Rev. John L. Dagg, D. D., Penfield. 



120 



^ a» x3 r-//-^fi 

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. /^L* 

Texas. 
Hon. Sam Houston, U. S. Senator. 
Rev. James Huckins, Galveston. 

Florida. 



Mississippi. 
Rev, S. S. Lattimore, Macon. 
Eev. W. H. Holcombe, Ripley. 

Louisiana. 
Rev. W. C. Duncan, New Orleans. 

Tennessee. 
Rev. J. R. Graves, Nashville. 

Kentucky. 

Rev. S. W. Lynd, D. D., Covington. 

Ohio. 

Rev. S. W. Adams, D. D v Cleveland. 
Rev. Henry Davis, D. D., Columbus. 

Indiana. 

Rev. Silas Bailey, D. D., President of 
Franklin College. 

Illinois. 

Rev. J. A. Smith, Chicago. 

Rev. L. Stone, Chicago. 

Prof. John Russell, Bluffdale. 

Rev. Ebenezer Rogers, Upper Alton. 

Rev. John Brown, " 

Rev. D. L. Phillips, Jonesborough. 

Rev. Thomas Powell, M. Palatine. 

Rev. S. H. Buudy, Sarahville. 

Rev. Frederick Ketcham, Rock Island. ' 

"Wisconsin. 

Lyman C. Draper, Esq., Madison. 

Michigan. 

Rev. O. C. Comstock, M. D., Marshall. 
Rev. J. A. B. Stone, D. D., Kalamazoo. 

Minnesota. 
Rev. T. R. Cressy, Cannon City. 

Iowa. 

Rev. George J. Johnson, Burlington. 
Mr. Joseph T. Fales, Iowa City. 

Arkansas. 
Rev. S. Stevenson. Arkadelphia. 



California. 

District of Columbia. 
Rev. G. W. Samson, Washington. 
Rev. Joel S. Bacon, D. D., " 
John S. Meehan, Esq., " 

Missouri. 

Rev. W. Crowell, St. Louis. 

Rev. J. E. Welch, Hickory Grove. 

Rev. Adiel Sherwood, D. D., Cape 

Girardeau. 
Rev. Robert S. Thomas, President of 

Wm. Jewell College. 
Wade M. Jackson, Esq., Fayette. 
M. F. Price, Esq., Lexington. 

England. 
Edward Bean Underhill. Esq., London. 
Hon. & Rev. B. W. Noel, A. ML, Lon. 
Rev. J. H. Hinton, M. A., London. 
Rev. G. W. Fishbourne, London. 
Rev. B, Evans, Scarborough. 
Rev. Samuel Manning, Frome. 

Scotland. 
Rev. John Watson, Edinburgh. 

Wales. 
Rev. T. Thomas, D. D., President of 

Pontypool College. 
Rev. Wm. Roberts, Blanau, Monmouth- 
shire. 
Rev. Hugh Jones, Carmarthen. 

France. 
Rev. E. Willard, Paris. 
Germany. 
Rev. John Gerhard Oncken, Hamburg. 

Sweden. 
Rev. Andrew Wiberg, A. M, Stock 
holm. 






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